Full text of "Dragon Magazine"

See other formats

ISSUE-384 I FEBRUARY 2010 ,

PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 3 DEBUT: THE BATTLEMIND 41

Get your first look at this new psionic class a full month before the release of
Player’s Handbook 3.

BAZAAR OF THE BIZARRE: LEGENDARY FIGURINES

By Robert J. Schwalb

Figurines of wondrous power for the paragon and epic tiers.

WARLOCK BASICS

By Matthew Sernett

Get the starter basics for building a bad-ass warlock, as well as some new
feats for your ‘lock character.

TO WALK UNSEEN PATHS

By Ari Marmell

Learn about those who walk the Unseen Path, rangers who seek to strike
the perfect balance between the world and the Feywild.

CLASS ACTS: BARBARIAN

By Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel

New evocations for two-hander barbarians,

lphasizing those that grant

Contents

CLASS ACTS: AVENGER

By Robert J. Schwalb

Discover the Godsworn—avengers who devote themselves fully to the
destruction of their deity’s enemies.

CLASS ACTS: CLERIC

By Matt James

New prayers and magic items for battle clerics.

CLASS ACTS: WARLORD

By Robert J. Schwalb

Discover the commando warlord, fast on his feet and ready to seize whatever
opportunities arise in battle.

WINNING RACES: GNOMES

By Brian Yablon

Gnomes make poor defenders... or do they? Discover how gnomes protect
their communities from their many foes.

WINNING RACES: ELADRIN

By Robert J. Schwalb

The winterkin eladrin have potent bonds to the Cold Lands of the feywild.
Learn about this new eladrin bloodline here.

CLASS ACTS: WARLORD

By Robert. J. Schwalb

These powers offer the warlord unique powers that enhance his allies’
abilities.

CHANNEL DIVINITY: MIELIKKI

By Matthew Sernett

In the Realms, Mielikki is called the Daughter of Silvanus, but learn how her
followers pursue her goals in the world.

CHANNEL DIVINITY: AVANDRA

By Robert J. Schwalb

Avandra shows favor to all adventurers who seize the initiative. Discover new

ON THE COVER

Illustration byTyler Jacobson

skill powers for Avandra worshipers.

4 EDITORIAL

67 DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

By Mike Mearls

Mike goes into detail in this commentary on the
battlemind class.

68 DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

By Richard Baker & Rodney Thompson

Rich and Rodney talk about Martial Power 2.

72 CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD

By Shelly Mazzanoble

D&D’s “Player-in-Chief” shares more of her
wisdom and insight.

77 D&D PLAY REPORT

By Chris Tulach

Learn all about the new D&D Encounters program
and how you can get involved!

80 AMPERSAND

By Bill Slavicsek

Bill discusses more of the changes in store for
D&D in 2009.

DRAGON

■^384 J

Editor-in-Chief
Senior Art Director
Web Specialist
Web Production
Contributing Authors

Cover Artist
Contributing Artists

Publishing Production Specialists

Web Development
D&D Creative Manager

Executive Producer,
D&D Insider

Director of RPC R&D

February 2010

Chris Youngs
Jon Schindehette
Steve Winter
Bart Carroll
Richard Baker,

Matt James, Shelly Mazzanoble,
Mike Mearls, Aeryn “Blackdirge”
Rudel, Robert J. Schwalb,
Matthew Sernett, Bill Slavicsek,
Rodney Thompson, Chris Tulach,
Brian Yablon
Peter Schaefer, Stephen
Schubert, Rodney Thompson

Michele Carter, Jeremy Crawford,
Miranda Horner

Tyler Jacobson

Tyler Jacobson, Chad King,
William O’Connor, Cynthia
Sheppard, Matias Tapia,

Tyler Walpole

Angelika Lokotz, Erin Dorries,
Christopher Tardiff

Mark A.Jindra
Christopher Perkins

Chris Champagne
Bill Slavicsek

Special Thanks

Richard Baker, Greg Bilsland, Michele Carter, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, Andy
Collins, Bruce R. Cordell, Jeremy Crawford, Peter Lee, Mike Mearls, Kim Mo¬
han, Cal Moore, Peter Schaefer, Stephen Schubert, Matthew Sernett, Rodney
Thompson, James Wyatt

1 GOT A PONY. . .

. . . AND ALL IT COST ME WAS MY PRIDE

Figurines of wondrous power have a long history in the
Dungeons & Dragons® game. They first showed up in
the 1st Edition Dungeon Master s Guide® core rulebook.
Since then, many designers have added to the list of
ebony fly, golden lions (pair), ivory goats (trio), marble
elephant, obsidian steed, onyx dog, and serpentine owl. Later
editions added to the list with the likes of the jade sea
snake and the opal carp, both available in 4th Edition
games near you. And the pearl sea horse.

That’s right, the game now has a figurine of wondrous
power that summons a giant aquatic pony. That you can
ride. Did I mention it was also pearl? Not mithral. Not
titanium. Pearl.

I can imagine a less heroic mount or ally, but it takes
some effort. Maybe the purple Peeps figurine? Or the
mahogany chipmunk?

As I’ve mentioned in this space before, I play in a
Wednesday night campaign run by Chris Perkins. The
world of Iomandra is composed of a vast sea dotted by
islands of various sizes. We spend a lot of our sessions
aboard ships. In fact, a recent session saw our captured
(read: stolen) ship and another ship assaulted by three
submersible turtle ships crewed by githyanki pirates.
Cool, right? But my point is that we’re on or near the
water a lot.

You’d think that a figurine that lets you waterski
across the water would be a hot commodity. Jade sea
snake? Rad. Opal carp ? Less rad, but I can get behind it.

Enter the pearl sea horse. Several months back, our
group recovered one of these. It was near the beginning
of the paragon tier. Keep in mind the aforementioned
proximity of water. Not a one of us manly men (ahem)
would take the sea pony. In fact, the item sat in the
party holding pen, along with spare healing potions and
the funds to raise Divin, our party cleric, for two entire

And then, one day, I’d had enough. After being sty¬
mied—yet again—by a seemingly impassable 100-foot
stretch of water, I was done. “You know what? I’ll take
the pony,” I declared. And I did.

I call him Sharkbait.

Since then, I’ve used Sharkbait at least a dozen times.
I can’t complain. Each time, someone at the table asks
me if I’m enjoying my party dress at my 10th birthday,
or something to that effect. But they shut up when
Sharkbait leaves them in his wake.

This month, we’re adding several new figurines of won¬
drous power to the game, specifically for the paragon and
epic tiers. Why should heroic characters have all the
fun? Steve and Bart originally pitched this idea. They’re
big fans of the ebony fly and other flying figurines. You
know, the ones that actually increase your character’s
cool factor. The new figurines are pretty much all of
the kick-ass variety—the coral dragon and mercury wasp
just sound cool, don’t they? As for me, I’ve taken to the
underdog figurines. As soon as I’m able, I’m saving up
for the tourmaline turtle.

I think I’ll call him Shelldon.

What’s your favorite figurine of wondrous power ? Or
even your favorite offbeat magic item? Let us know at
dndinsider@wizards.com .

cM>

Battlemind

By Mike Mearls

illustrations by Tyler Jacobsen

“My mind is afar deadlier weapon than some ill-crafted bit of iron.”

For design insights on the battlemind, check out the companion Design & Development article

As wanderers, mercenaries, and adventurers, battleminds are carefree warriors who seek only to test
their skill against the mightiest and most dangerous opponents. Battleminds possess a potent combina¬
tion of psionic and physical skill, allowing them to use their magic to manipulate and deceive their foes
even as their fighting skill lets them carve a swath through enemy ranks. Battleminds tend to be bold
and sometimes arrogant, an attitude earned through bringing ruin to enemies over the course of many
conflicts.

You might not share your fellow battleminds’ arrogance, but you do have access to an array of
combat abilities that let you manipulate, baffle, and defeat your enemies. Your mind is as deadly as your
weapon, and with the aid of your psionic magic, your body can turn aside attacks as effectively as a suit
of plate armor can.

Let those who would stand against your might quiver in terror when you approach, for you are a
battlemind, and supremacy in combat is your birthright.

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

CLASS TRAITS

Role: Defender. You are tough and fast, while your
mastery of psionic magic allows you to outwit your
foes. Depending on your choice of class features
and powers, you lean toward either controller or
striker as a secondary role.

Power Source: Psionic. You are a psionic warrior,
a weapon master who combines physical
might and a cunning intellect.

Key Abilities: Constitution, Wisdom, Charisma

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, hide, chain-
mail, scale; light shield, heavy shield

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, military
melee, simple ranged
Bonus to Defense: +2 Will

Hit Points at 1st Level: 15 + Constitution score

Hit Points per Level Gained: 6

Healing Surges per Day: 9 + Constitution modi-

Trained Skills: From the class skills list below,
choose three trained skills at 1st level.

Class Skills: Arcana (Int), Athletics (Str), Bluff
(Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Endurance (Con),

Heal (Wis), Insight (Wis), Intimidate (Cha)

Class Features: Psionic Augmentation, Psionic
Defense, Psionic Study

Battlemind Class Features

Battleminds have the following class features.

Psionic Augmentation

Through discipline and careful study, you have
mastered a form of psionic magic that offers greater
versatility than other characters command. You know
a broad array of at-will powers, each of which is a con¬
duit through which you can pour as much or as little
psionic energy as you choose. You channel psionic
energy into a reservoir of personal power—repre¬
sented in the game as power points—that you can use
to augment your at-will attack powers, replacing the
encounter attack powers that other characters use.

As a battlemind, you acquire and use powers in a
slightly different manner from how most other classes
do.

At-Will Attack Powers: At 1st level, you choose
two at-will attack powers and one daily attack power
from your class, but you don’t start with any encoun¬
ter attack powers from your class. You can instead
augment your battlemind at-will attack powers using
power points. These powers (and certain others,
notably the encounter attack power you gain from a
battlemind paragon path) have the augmentable key¬
word (see the sidebar).

You gain new battlemind at-will attack powers,
instead of new encounter attack powers, as you
increase in level. At 3rd level, you choose a new
battlemind at-will attack power. At 7th, 13th, 17th,
23rd, and 27th level, you can replace one of your
augmentable battlemind at-will attack powers with
another one of your level or lower. The power you
replace must be augmentable.

Power Points: You start with 2 power points. You
gain 2 additional power points at 3rd and 7th level, 1
additional power point at 13th level, and 2 additional
power points at 17th, 21st, 23rd, and 27th level. If
you gain power points from another source (such as
your paragon path), add them to your power point
total. You can use your power points to augment any
augmentable power you have, regardless of how you
gained the power.

You regain all your power points when you take a
short or an extended rest.

Choose one

Gain 2 (4 total)

Replace one

Gain 1 (7 total)

Replace one

Gain 2 (11 total)

Replace one

Gain 2 (15 total)

Psionic Defense

Three powers-battlemind’s demand, blurred step, and
mind spifee-help you maintain tactical superior¬
ity in combat. You can use these psionic powers
to demand your enemies’ attention, follow them if
they try to avoid you, and punish them if they attack
your allies. This combination of mental compulsion
and psionic enhancement of your own capabilities
makes you a force to be reckoned with in battle.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Psion ic Study

Battleminds learn to fight using their bodies as
weapons. Some battleminds alter their own form to
fit their needs. Other battleminds use their psionic
power to predict the best position for launching an
attack.

Choose one of these options.

Battle Resilience: You gain the battle resilience
power, which reflects your ability to use your psionic
power to bend your own body to protect yourself.

Speed of Thought: You gain the speed of thought
power, which allows you to be always ready for a
fight.

THE AUGMENTABLE KEYWORD

A power that has the augmentable keyword has
optional augmentations, which you can use at the
cost of power points. You use these rules when you
use an augmentable power.

Decide First: You must decide whether and
how to augment an augmentable power when
you choose to use the power, before you make any
attack rolls or apply any of the power’s effects.

Power Point Cost: An augmentation specifies
its cost in power points. For example, “Augment
1” means you must spend 1 power point to use an
augmentation. You must spend the required power
points when you decide to use the augmentation.

One at a Time: You can use only one augmenta¬
tion on a power at a time, so you can’t, for example,
spend 3 power points to use both a 1-point and a
2-point augmentation on a single power.

Replace Base Effects: When you augment a
power, changes to the power are noted in the
augmentation. If an augmentation includes a spe¬
cific power entry, like “Hit” or “Effect,” that entry

replaces the entry in the base power that has the
same name. An augmented version of a power is
otherwise identical to the base power.

Unaugmented: When you use an aug¬
mentable power without augmenting it, the
power is referred to as unaugmented for that
use (some effects apply only when a power
is unaugmented). A power that doesn’t have
the augmentable keyword is never considered
unaugmented.

At-Will Attack Powers: When a power or
some other effect lets you use an at-will attack
power, you can choose to use one of your aug¬
mentable at-will attack powers, but you must use
it unaugmented.

When a racial trait grants you an at-will
attack power of your choice and you choose an
augmentable at-will attack power, the power
loses both the augmentable keyword and its
augmentations.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

\r)

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Creating a Battlemind

Battleminds rely on Constitution, Charisma, and
Wisdom for their powers. You can choose any
powers you like, but many battleminds choose
powers that complement their choice of combat
style.

Quick Battlemind

You use your psionic power to make yourself faster,
increasing your speed and agility in combat. Make
Constitution your highest ability score, followed
by Charisma to reflect your ability to project your
psionic power into the world. Wisdom should be
your third-best ability. For daily powers, consider
those that grant new opportunity actions to you,
ensuring that your foes can’t outmaneuver you.
Suggested Class Feature: Speed of Thought
Suggested Feat: Improved Speed of Thought
Suggested Skills: Arcana, Athletics, Insight
Suggested At-Will Powers: demon dance, whirl¬
ing defense

Suggested Daily Power: steel unity strike

Battlemind Powers

Your powers are called disciplines; they combine
your fighting ability with your mastery of psionic
magic. You can plant images in a foe’s mind and
use psionic power to lend unmatched speed and
strength to your weapon blows.

Class Features

Each battlemind has the powers battleminds demand,
blurred step, and mind spike.

Battlemind’s Demand Battlemind Feature

You draw your foe’s concentration, taunting the foe to strike at you.

At-Will § Augmentable, Psionic
Minor Action Close burst 3
Target: One creature in burst

Effect: You mark the target until you use this power again or
until the end of the encounter.

Augment i

Target: One or two creatures in burst

Blurred Step Battlemind Featuri

You bend reality with the power of your mind, fashing across the
space between you and your enemy.

At-Will § Psionic

Opportunity Action Personal

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you shifts
Effect: You shift 1 square.

Mind Spike Battlemind Feature

You force your enemy to feel the pain that it inflicts on your friend.

At-Will § Force, Psionic, Psychic
Immediate Reaction Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you deals damage to
your ally with an attack that doesn’t include you as a target
Target: The triggering enemy

Effect: The target takes force and psychic damage equal to
the damage that its attack dealt to your ally.

The Psionic Study option that you choose determines
whether you have battle resilience (available in Player's
Handbook 3) or speed of thought.

Speed of Thought Battlemind Feature

You move in the blink of an eye, reaching your foes before they can
draw their weapons.

Encounter H Psionic
Free Action Personal
Trigger: You roll initiative

Effect: You move a number of squares equal to 3 + your
Charisma modifier.

Special: You can use this power even if you’re surprised.

BATTLEMIND OVERVIEW

Characteristics: Your heavy armor allows you to
take on your enemies’ attacks without fear, and
your melee attacks that are augmented by psionic
magic let you control your enemies like puppets
and set them up for defeat. You excel at control¬
ling the battle line and forcing enemies to fight you
while your allies wreak havoc.

Religion: Battleminds who live up to this class’s
renowned arrogance rarely pray to the gods, and
stories abound of battleminds whose ill luck could
be placed at the feet of their impiety. Those bat¬
tleminds who do follow the gods typically revere
Kord for his martial skill and strength, Bahamut for
his practice of justice, or loun for being the origina¬
tor of psionic magic.

Races: Dwarves and wilden make excellent
resilient battleminds, putting their Constitution
and Wisdom to great use in shaping their bodies
to meet the needs of combat. Half-elves are ideal
quick battleminds, channeling their natural Cha¬
risma into psionic alacrity. Goliaths’ sheer physical
power makes them well suited for this class, and
many gnome and tiefling warriors are drawn to the
guile and trickery of some battlemind powers.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Level 1 At-Will Disciplines

Demon Dance Battlemind Attack 1

As you slash your enemy, you implant the image of howling de¬
mons into its mind, distracting the foe from making attacks.

At-Will § Augmentable, Fear, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier psychic damage, and the
target takes a -5 penalty to opportunity attack rolls until
the end of your next turn.

Augment 1

Hit: As above, and the target loses threatening reach
until the end of your next turn.

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier psychic damage, and the
target can’t make opportunity attacks until the end of

You flood the mind of your foe with psionic energy,
befuddling its vision and distorting its perception of
nearby threats. By increasing the flood to a torrent, you
can blind the foe completely.

At-Will § Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until the end of
your next turn, the target takes a penalty to attack rolls
equal to the number of your allies adjacent to it.
Augment 1

Special: When making an opportunity attack, you can
use this power in place of a melee basic attack.
Augment 2

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the target is
blinded until the end of your next turn.

Whirling Defense ^^BattlemindAttackll

Seeking to defend your friends, you attack your foe to get it to
focus on you. By channeling more power into your attack, you
can distract more opponents.

At-Will M Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you mark the
target until the end of your next turn.

Augment 1

Effect: Whenever you use your mind spike before the end of
your next turn, the target of that power takes extra damage
equal to your Charisma modifier.

Augment 2
Close burst 1

Target: Each enemy you can see in burst

Level 1 Daily Disciplines

Allies to Enemies Battlemind Attack I

Your attack rattles your foe with a vision of its allies betray¬
ing it. The foe lashes out at a companion before realizing its
mistake.

Daily H Charm, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier psychic damage, and the
target makes a melee basic attack as a free action against a
creature of your choice.

Miss: Half damage.

Steel Unity Strike Battlemind Attack 1

You become one with your weapon as you unleash a devastat¬
ing attack against your foe, leaving yourself in position to
strike again if your enemies flee.

Daily B Psionic, Stance, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Primary Target: One creature

Primary Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You assume the steel unity stance. Until the stance
ends, you can make the following secondary attack.
Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves without
shifting on its turn

Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Level 2 Utility Disciplines

With a focused thought, you lift your body slightly off the
ground on a current of psionic energy, allowing you to move
over water or broken ground with ease.

At-Will B Psionic
Move Action Personal

Effect: Until the end of this turn, you ignore difficult terrain
and can both move across liquid and stand on it as if it
were solid ground. In addition, you move 3 squares.

2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

You loom large in your foes’ minds,forcing the enemies to turn
their attention toward you.

Encounter H Psionic
Minor Action Close burst 2
Target: Each enemy in burst

Effect: You mark each target until the end of your next turn.

Level 3 At-Will Disciplines

You trick your enemy into perceiving a legion of foes press¬
ing in upon it. By expending more power, you can make the
phantoms seem more real, causing the enemy to freeze in
indecision.

At-Will H Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until the end of
your next turn, the target grants combat advantage to
your allies while they are adjacent to it.

Augment 1

Hit: As above, and the target takes a penalty to the attack rolls
of melee attacks and close attacks until the end of your
next turn. The penalty equals your Charisma modifier.

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until the end of
your next turn, the target is immobilized, and it grants
combat advantage to your allies while they are adjacent

Visions of Terror Battlemind Attack 3I

With a sweeping attack, you trick your foe’s mind into seeing
you as a monstrous figure whose blow sends the enemy stum¬
bling back. You can expend more power to cause other foes to
stagger back.

At-Will B Augmentable, Fear, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you push the
target 2 squares.

Augment 1

Hit: As above, but you push the target a number of squares
equal to your Charisma modifier. In addition, until the end
of your next turn, if you or any of your allies pulls, pushes,
or slides the target, the forced movement increases by 1

Augment 2

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you push the
target a number of squares equal to your Charisma modi¬
fier. After the push, you slide each enemy adjacent to the
target 1 square.

Level 5 Daily Disciplines

Beckoning Strike Battlemind Attack 5

As you strike your enemy, you unleash a surge of psionic ener¬
gy that warps the minds of the foes you challenge, compelling
them to approach you.

Daily § Psionic, Stance, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Primary Target: One creature

Primary Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You assume the beckoning stance. Until the stance
ends, you can make the following secondary attack.
Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves
without shifting on its turn
Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. At the end of the
secondary target’s turn, you can use a free action to pull the
secondary target a number of squares equal to its speed.

Nightmare Vortex Battlemind Attack 5

You generate a vortex of nightmares around yourself that
engulfs the minds of your enemies, forcing your foes to move
away from imagined attacks.

Daily § Fear, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1

Target: Each enemy you can see in burst
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you slide the
target 1 square.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever an enemy
starts its turn within 3 squares of you, you can slide the
target 1 square as a free action.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Level 6 Utility Disciplines

You spring into the air, fueling your leap withyour psionic

At-Will § Psionic
Move Action Personal

Effect: You make an Athletics check to jump with a +5
bonus. You are considered to have a running start.

You channel psionic energy into your weapon, adjusting the
rules of nature so that the weapon will slide through the air as
if on wings when you hurl it.

Encounter H Psionic
Minor Action Personal

Effect: Choose a weapon you are holding. The next melee
attack you make with that weapon before the end of your
next turn becomes a ranged attack with a range of 10. The
weapon returns to your hand after you make that attack.

Level 7 At-Will Disciplines

Lightning Rush Battlemind Attack 7|

Like a lightning strike, you rush across the battlefield and
launch a counterattack to help a friend. If you choose, you can
draw the enemy’s attack to yourself.

At-Will H Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt Melee 1

Trigger: An enemy within 5 squares of you targets an ally with
an attack

Effect: Before the attack, you move your speed to a square
adjacent to the triggering enemy.

Target: The triggering enemy

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Effect: You don’t get your normal standard action on your next

Augment 1

Hit: As above, and the target takes a penalty to the triggering
attack roll equal to your Charisma modifier.

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you become
the target of the triggering attack.

Effect: You get your normal standard action on your next turn.

Psionic Speed _Battlemind Attack 7\

You move in a blur, making a series of quick attacks that force your
opponents to regard you as a threat.

At-Will H Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One, two, or three creatures
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] damage, and you mark the target until the end of
Augment 1

Effect: After both the first and second attacks, you shift 1
square to a square adjacent to the next target.

Augment 2

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Effect: You mark the target until the end of your next turn.

Level 9 Daily Disciplines

Inexorable Death Strike Battlemind Attack 9

You project a vision of your enemy’s death into the foe’s mind.

Daily § Psionic, Psychic, Stance, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Primary Target: One creature
Primary Attack: Constitution vs. Will
Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and ongoing 5
psychic damage (save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends).
Effect: You assume the inexorable death stance. Until the
stance ends, you can make the following secondary attack.
Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves
without shifting on its turn
Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 1 [W] damage, and the secondary target fails its first saving
throw at the end of this turn.

Level 21: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Intellect Hammer Battlemind Attack 9

You hammer your foe’s intellect, draining power from it.

Daily § Psionic, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the target
is dazed until the end of your next turn. In addition, you
regain 2 power points.

Miss: Half damage. In addition, you regain 1 power point.

Level 10 Utility Disciplines

idwffma-ffwii

As your ally reels from an attack, you act with the speed of thought
to shield your friend from further assault.

At-Will 18 Psionic

Immediate Reaction Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent ally takes damage
Target: The triggering ally
Effect: You slide the target 1 square.

Your form shimmers as you send a wave of psionic energy
washing over your foes. In their minds, you fade away as your
duplicate appears and threatens them.

Daily § Conjuration, Illusion, Psionic
Minor Action Ranged 5

Effect: You conjure an illusory duplicate of yourself in an unoc¬
cupied square within range. The duplicate lasts until the
end of the encounter. You gain a +4 power bonus to all
defenses against any attack that doesn’t include both you
and the duplicate. As part of a move action, you can move
the duplicate 5 squares.

The duplicate can be targeted by melee attacks and
ranged attacks, although it lacks hit points. The duplicate
disappears if a melee or a ranged attack deals any
damage to it.

Level 13 At-Will Disciplines

Level 15 Daily Disciplines

You lash out with your weapon, slamming your foe again and
again until you drive it into the ground.

At-Will § Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. AC. Make the attack three times.
Hit: Constitution modifier damage.

Effect: If you hit the target two or more times, it falls prone.

Augment 1

Attack: Constitution vs. AC. Make the attack four times.
Augment 4

Attack: Constitution vs. AC. Make the attack four times.
Hit: Constitution modifier + Charisma modifier damage.

Luring Steel Battlemind Attack 13|

Your strike delivers a pulse of psionic energy into your enemy,
compelling it to attack you or suffer. By increasing the pulse’s
strength, you can affect more enemies.

At-Will 18 Augmentable, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. As a free action,
you can use your battlemind’s demand power against the

Effect: Until the end of your next turn, whenever an enemy
hits any ally who is adjacent to you with a melee attack,
that enemy takes psychic damage equal to your Charisma
modifier.

Augment 1

Effect: As above, but the enemy takes the damage when it
hits or misses.

Augment 4

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you pull each
enemy within 2 squares of you 1 square. As a free action,
you can use your battlemind’s demand power against each
enemy adjacent to you.

Intellect Sunder Battlemind Attack 15

Your attack devastates your foe’s mind, forcing the enemy to revert
to its base instincts and focus its anger on you.

Daily § Fear, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. Will

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage. Whenever the
target attacks, it can use only basic attacks and must in¬
clude you as a target (save ends both).

Miss: Half damage. Until the end of your next turn, whenever
the target attacks, it can use only basic attacks and must
include you as a target.

Paralyzing Fear Strike Battlemind Attack 15

You wave your weapon in an intricate pattern, channeling
psionic energy into it as you strike. Your foe is paralyzed with
fear as it perceives a hellish scene of torment engulfing it

Daily § Fear, Psionic, Stance, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Primary Target: One creature
Primary Attack: Constitution vs. Will
Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the primary
target is immobilized (save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and the primary target is immobilized until
the end of your next turn.

Effect: You assume the paralyzing fear stance. Until the stance
ends, you can make the following secondary attack.
Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves without
shifting

Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the secondary
target is immobilized until the end of your next turn.

Level 21: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Level 16 Utility Disciplines

Shield of the Iron Mind Battlemind Utility 16

You create a shield of psionic power that fortifies your allies.

Daily § Psionic, Zone

Minor Action Close burst 5

Effect: The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of the
encounter. When you move, the zone moves with you,
remaining centered on you. You and your allies gain a +4
power bonus to Will and saving throws while within the

1 Sudden Rush

Battlemind Utility 16 1

With a burst of psioni
have called out.

ic energy, you appear next to an enemy you

Encounter H Psionic, Teleportation
Move Action Personal

Effect: You teleport to a square adjacent to a creature
marked by you.

Level 17 At-Will Disciplines

Battle Vortex Battlemind Attack 17l

Your attack creates a vortex that sends waves of psychic energy
crashing over your enemies. By increasing the vortex’s inten¬
sity, you can move or lock down your foes.

At-Will B Augmentable, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until the end of
your next turn, when any enemy starts its turn within
2 squares of you but ends its turn more than 2 squares
away from you, that enemy takes psychic damage equal
to your Constitution modifier.

Augment 1

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until the end of
your next turn, while the target is within 2 squares of you,
it takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls against your allies who
are more than 2 squares away from you.

Augment 4 (Teleportation)

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage. Until the end of
your next turn, when any enemy starts its turn within
2 squares of you but ends its turn more than 2 squares
away from you, you can teleport that enemy 3 squares
as a free action, and it is immobilized until the end of its

Step of the Pursuer _Battlemind Attack 17|

Your attack hammers your foe, allowing you to bind it with a
psionic link that keeps your enemy close.

At-Will H Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. If the target
moves away from you on its next turn, you can use a free
action to shift 3 squares to a square closer to the target
after its move.

Augment 1

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage. You are immune
to the slowed and immobilized conditions until the end of

Augment 4 (Teleportation)

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage. If the target moves
away from you on its next turn, you can use a free action to
teleport to a square adjacent to the target after its move.

Level 19 Daily Disciplines

MMBM

Battlemind Attack 19

You assume perfect positioning and strike with precision to
leave a lasting wound. While in this stance, you can deliver a
staggering blow to any enemy that tries to move awayfromyou.

Daily § Psionic, Stance, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1

Primary Target: Each enemy in burst
Primary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and ongoing 5
damage (save ends).

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You assume the perfect storm stance. Until the stance
ends, you can make the following secondary attack.
Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves
without shifting

Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the secondary
target is dazed until the end of your next turn.

Level 21: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

You shunt aside your wrath at seeing your friends attacked, focu
ing your rage to lend exacting precision to your attacks.

Daily 0 Psionic, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 4[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, when the target at¬
tacks any ally of yours, you gain a +2 power bonus to
attack rolls against the target until the end of your next
turn. If you already have the bonus when the target at¬
tacks an ally, the bonus increases by 1.

Level 22 Utility Disciplines

E53HES3

You’re an avatar of battle, taking advantage of the slightest
flaws in your enemies’ defenses to gain supremacy over them.

Daily ♦ Psionic

Minor Action Personal

Level 23 At-Will Disciplines

Armor of Blades

As your foe attacks your ally, you intervene to protect your friend.

At-Will H Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon

Immediate Interrupt Melee 1

Trigger: An enemy adjacent to you targets one of your allies
with a melee attack

Target: The triggering enemy

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the target
attacks you instead of the ally.

Effect: You don’t get your normal standard action on your nexl

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the target
takes a penalty to its attack roll equal to your Charisma
modifier.

Augment 6

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you slide the
target 3 squares and shift 3 squares to a square adjacent to
it. The target then attacks you instead of the ally.

Effect: You get your normal standard action on your next turn.

Level 25 Daily Disciplines

Deadly Haste Strike

You weave through the battlefield, darting to a new foe after each
strike with such speed that your enemies think they face an army.

Daily § Psionic, Stance, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Primary Target: One, two, three, or four creatures

Primary Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Before each attack but the first, you shift your speed.
After making all the attacks, you assume the deadly haste
stance. Until the stance ends, you can make the following
secondary attack.

Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves
without shifting

Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage. You shift half your
speed and make a melee basic attack against a different
enemy.

Assessing your enemies’ weaknesses, you maneuver past your
foes, positioning yourself to your best advantage.

Encounter ♦ Psionic
Move Action Personal

Effect: You shift 12 squares and can move through enemies’
spaces during the shift.

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. AC. If you weren’t adjacent to the
target at the start of this turn, the target grants combat
advantage to you for this attack.

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you shift 3
squares. If you use this power unaugmented on your next
turn, you can shift 3 squares as a free action either before
or after the attack.

Augment 6

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you are invis¬
ible to the target until the end of your next turn.

Daily H Charm, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. Will

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier psychic damage, and the
target is dominated (save ends). Until this domination
ends, you can use a free action at the start of each of the
target’s turns to slide the target a number of squares
equal to its speed.

Miss: Half damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).

y 2010 ] DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Level 27 At-Will Disciplines

Brilliant Recovery _Battlemind Attack n\

After missing your foe with an attack, you shift your grip on your
weapon and make a quick follow-up strike.

At-Will § Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Minor Action Melee weapon

Target: An enemy you missed with an attack during this turn

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Augment 2

Attack: Constitution vs. Reflex

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Augment 6

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Miss: You regain the power points you spent to augment this
power.

Cage of Cowardice _Battlemind Attack 27|

Your attack undermines your foe’s confidence in attacking anyone

but you. Using more psionic energy you can stun the foe.

At-Will H Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you mark the
target until the end of your next turn.

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you mark the
target until the end of your next turn.

Special: When making an opportunity attack, you can use this
power in place of a melee basic attack.

Augment 6

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the target is
stunned until the end of your next turn.

Level 29 Daily Disciplines

Mind-Sundering Burst Battlemind Attack 29

You unleash a burst of psychic energy as you spin and slash with
your weapon, sending your foes reeling.

Daily H Psionic, Psychic, Stance, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 3

Primary Target: Each creature in burst
Primary Attack: Constitution vs. Will
Hit: 4[W] + Constitution modifier psychic damage, and the
primary target is dazed and immobilized (save ends both).
Miss: Half damage, and the primary target is dazed until the
end of your next turn.

Effect: You assume the mind-sundering stance. Until the
stance ends, you can make the following secondary
attack.

Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves
without shifting

Secondary Target: The triggering enemy
Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage. You slide the

secondary target 3 squares to a square adjacent to you, and
it is immobilized (save ends).

Nova Strike Battlemind Attack 29

You erupt into a blur of motion and launch a devastating

Daily H Psionic, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Constitution vs. Reflex

Hit: 7[W] + Constitution modifier damage. If you have no
power points remaining, the damage increases by 2[W].
Miss: Half damage.

PARAGON PATHS

Steel Ego

“This contest can end only in your defeat.”

Prerequisite: Battlemind, mind spike power

Confidence is why you always win. Even when you
are faced with a setback, your resolve never wavers,
and you’re certain you will overcome adversity no
matter how severe. Some people mistake your confi¬
dence for arrogance or foolishness, but you prove the
truth of your words time and again, showing your
detractors your might.

You back up your confidence with your psionic
mastery, wrapping your soul, body, and mind in a
barrier of willpower to deflect any attack you face,
whether it strikes your body or mind. With this
unwavering resolve, you can dismiss a foe’s strikes,
standing undaunted before its best efforts to hurt
you. And with this security, you project your person¬
ality onto those you fight, flooding their minds with
the imminence of their defeat.

Steel Ego Path Eeatur.es

Demanding Action (11th level): When you
spend an action point to take an extra action, you
can use your mind spike power as a free action until
the end of your next turn.

Mind Smash (11th level): Whenever you deal
damage with your mind spike power, each enemy
adjacent to the target takes psychic damage equal to
your Charisma modifier.

Paragon Power Points (11th level): You gain 2
additional power points.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Psionic Cascade (16th level): Whenever you
score a critical hit, you regain 1 power point.

Steel Ego Disciplines

Your enemy realizes its mistake in attacking when you react to its
aggression with a swift strike.

Encounter § Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Immediate Reaction Melee 1

Trigger: An enemy adjacent to you attacks you or your ally
with a melee or a close attack
Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you mark the
target until the end of your next turn.

Effect: Until the end of your next turn, the range of your mind
spike power increases to 10, but it remains a melee power.
In addition, you can use your mind spike power as a free
action once before the start of your next turn.

Augment 2

Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and you mark the
target until the end of your next turn.

Through mental force, you will your flesh to become as hard as
steel to foil an attack against you.

Encounter § Psionic
Immediate Interrupt Personal

Trigger: You are hit by an attack that targets a defense other
than Fortitude

Effect: The attack instead targets your Fortitude, and you
gain a +2 power bonus to Fortitude until the end of your

Zephyr Blade

“Can you stop the wind ? Can you grasp it in your hands ?
If not, you stand no chance of stopping me.”

Asyou attack your foe, you bring the fiTU force of your personality
against it. The psychic assault rips through your foe’s nerves.

Daily § Fear, Psionic, Psychic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. Fortitude

Hit: 4[W] + Constitution modifier psychic damage, and the
target provokes opportunity attacks whenever it makes
melee attacks (save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and the target provokes opportunity

attacks whenever it makes melee attacks before the end of

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, you can use a free
action to slide the target 1 square whenever it is hit by an
opportunity attack.

Prerequisite: Battlemind

Without formal training, you learned your tech¬
niques in a haphazard fashion, unlocking your
potential with each contest, awakening new tech¬
niques as you blended psionic power with your
weapon strikes. At some point during your battles,
you began to hear a faint wailing-subtle, quiet, but
definitely present. Now when you fight, the breeze
whips up into a storm, lending new strength to your
attacks.

What you hear are psionic winds swirling around
you. Your crude methods cause psionic power to
bleed from you. Instead of dissipating, it swirls,
blowing around you, unseen and unnoticed by any
but you and the enemies who stand against you.
When you reclaim this power, your body undergoes
a strange transformation, becoming disjoined from
reality for a moment or two before you snap back
into place.

The more you work with this loosed psionic
power, the more ephemeral you become. You can stir
up the power to rip through your enemies’ minds, or
you can draw it into yourself to vanish and reappear
where least expected.

Zephyr Blade Path Eeatures

Beguiling Advantage (11th level): Your melee
attacks against dazed, slowed, or stunned enemies
deal extra damage to them equal to your Charisma
modifier.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

Player's Handbook 3 Debut: Battlemind

Paragon Power Points (11th level): You gain 2
additional power points.

Zephyr Action (11th level): When you spend
an action point to take an extra action, you are
insubstantial and phasing until the start of your next
turn.

Speed of the Wind (16th level): You gain a +2
bonus to speed. In addition, the move granted by
your speed of thought power doesn’t provoke opportu¬
nity attacks.

Zephyr Blade Disciplines

Knifing Wind Zephyr Blade 11

As you slash your foe, you generate a psionic wind that knifes into
your enemy’s mind.

Encounter § Augmentable, Psionic, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Constitution vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the target is
dazed until the end of your next turn.

Augment 2

Hit: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the
target is dazed until the end of your next turn.

msEss

You feel the bite from your enemy’s attack and let the winds howl¬
ing withinyou infuse your flesh and pull you to safety.

Encounter § Psionic

Immediate Reaction Personal

Trigger: An enemy hits you

Effect: You shift 1 square. Until the end of your next turn, you
are insubstantial and phasing, and your attacks ignore the
insubstantial quality.

Storm Dance Strike Zephyr Blade Attack 20

You become the screaming gale, encircling and buffeting
your foes.

Daily H Psionic, Stance, Teleportation, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Primary Target: One or two creatures
Primary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

Effect: If you attack two creatures with this power, you teleport
5 squares between the first and the second attack. You
assume the storm dance stance. Until the stance ends, you
can make the following secondary attack.

Opportunity Action Melee 1

Trigger: An adjacent enemy marked by you moves without
shifting

Secondary Target: The triggering enemy

Secondary Attack: Constitution vs. AC
Hit: 1 [W] + Constitution modifier damage, and the second¬
ary target is slowed until the end of your next turn. In
addition, you teleport 5 squares and then teleport the
secondary target to a square adjacent to you.

Level It: 2[W] + Constitution modifier damage.

FEATS

Improved Speed oe Thought

Prerequisite: Battlemind, speed of thought power
Benefit: When you use your speed of thought, you
can move 2 additional squares.

Pursuing Step

Prerequisite: Battlemind, blurred step power
Benefit: When you use blurred step, if you end the
shift adjacent to the triggering enemy, that enemy
grants combat advantage to you until the end of your
next turn.

Demand’s Reach

Prerequisite: 11th level, battlemind, battlemind’s
demand power

Benefit: The burst of your battlemind’s demand
increases to 5.

Linebreaker

Prerequisite: 11th level, battlemind, speed of
thought power

Benefit: When you use your speed of thought, you
can enter an enemy’s space. Doing so ends the move¬
ment. You must then slide the enemy 1 square.

Vengeance Spike

Prerequisite: 21st level, battlemind, mind spike
power

Benefit: When you damage a target with your
mind spike, you gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls against
that target until the end of your next turn.

About the Author

Mike Mearls is the Lead Designer for the Dungeons &
Dragons® roleplaying game. His recent credits include
Player’s Handbook® 3, Hammerfast™, and Primal Power™.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Bazaar of the Bizarre

Illustrations by Matias Tapia Legendary Figurines

Tales abound of figurines
that harbor greater magic that
when called forth transforms
the animal statuettes into
dangerous servants whose
power is beyond imagining.

A Dungeons & Dragons® classic, the figurines of
wondrous power made their return to the game in the
Adventurer’s Vault™ accessory. From the loyal onyx dog
to the fearsome golden lion, adventurers had at their
disposal constant companions they could call forth
from their diminutive statue forms to aid them in
battle. The nine items provide an ample selection for
heroic adventurers, but what about paragon or epic
tier adventurers?

The figurines presented in the Adventurer’s Vault
are the most common devices found in the D&D®
world, but they are by no means the only ones. Tales
abound of figurines that harbor greater magic that
when called forth transforms the animal statuettes
into dangerous servants whose power is beyond imag¬
ining. The following figurines expand on the options
available, extending their use further into the game
for characters beyond the heroic tier.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febri

Bazaar of the Bizarre.- Legendary Figurines

Amber Monkeys

The three monkeys in this figurine are carved from a
single piece of amber, all stacked up in a column. The
top monkey has its hands over its eyes, the middle
monkey has its hands over its ears, and the bottom
monkey has its hands over its mouth. Each monkey
wears a leering expression that would be amusing if it
wasn’t so sinister.

A mad wizard driven into exile in the Feywild
carved the first amber monkeys in his jungle strong¬
hold. Known for his wild simian slaves, he used them
to wreak havoc on the enemies haunting his domain.
Legend holds he bound the spirits of his most loyal
servants into the figurine so that he could call upon
them whenever he needed.

USING FIGURINES

When you activate a figurine, the conjured crea¬
ture appears in a square or squares adjacent to
you, provided the space is large enough to contain
the creature without squeezing it. The creature
obeys only you, responding to commands spoken
in any language. The creature remains for 8 hours
or until you use a minor action to dismiss it. The
conjured creature acts on the same initiative count
as you. Every action it takes costs you a minor
action (which you use to issue commands), and a
conjured creature cannot exceed its normal allot¬
ment of actions (a standard, a move, and a minor
action) during its turn. If you spend no minor
actions on your turn to command the creature,
it remains where it is without taking any actions
on its turn.

A conjured creature has hit points, defenses, and
attacks as indicated in its statistics block. It has
no healing surges and cannot be healed, though it
can still benefit from temporary hit points. When
reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, the conjured

creature disappears, and it cannot be conjured
again until after you take an extended rest.

Conjured creatures lack basic attacks and there¬
fore cannot make opportunity attacks.

Mount: If the conjured creature has the mount
keyword, you can ride the creature and are con¬
sidered to have the Mounted Combat feat while
mounted on it. While mounted, you can command
the creature using a free action, though the mount
is still limited to its normal allotment of actions.
You can choose to be mounted on the creature
when it appears.

FIGURINES OF WONDROUS POWER

1 Lvl

Name

Price (gp) 1

Amber Monkeys

17,000

Emerald Frog

21,000

Mercury Wasp

45,000

Serpentine Owl

65,000

Bronze Griffon

105,000

Electrum Serpent

225,000

Tourmaline Turtle

425,000

Coral Dragon

625,000

wmmmm i

Three amber monkeys stacked atop one another turn into
screeching allies who await your command.

Wondrous Item 17,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this

figurine to conjure three screeching monkeys (see below for
statistics). As a free action, you can spend a healing surge
when activating this item to give each creature temporary
hit points equal to one-third your healing surge value.

Power (At-Will): Standard Action. The figurine regains the use
of its monkey’s curse power.

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +9;

low-light vision

HP 27; Bloodied 13; see also shared life
AC 24; Fortitude 22, Reflex 24, Will 21
Speed 5

j- Bite (standard; at-will)

+16 vs. AC; 1d6 + 2 damage.

+ Monkey's Curse (standard; encounter)

+13 vs. Reflex; the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls
and loses line of sight to any creature not adjacent to it
until the end of your next turn.

Monkey’s Howl (minor; at-will)

Close burst 1; all creatures in the burst become deafened
until the end of your next turn.

Hopping Monkeys (move; at-will) ♦ Teleportation
The amber monkey teleports 5 squares.

Shared Actions

The amber monkeys share one complement of actions
(standard, move, and minor). When the conjurer issues a
command, the command applies to all monkeys. So if the
conjurer ordered the monkeys to make a bite attack, each
monkey makes the attack. Likewise, if a conjurer ordered a
monkey to use hopping monkeys, all the monkeys teleport.
Shared Life

The amber monkeys share one pool of hit points. When
the amber monkeys drop to 18 hit points, remove one from
play. Remove another from play at 9 hit points, and the
last monkey disappears when they drop to 0 hit points.
Alignment Unaligned Languages -

Str 15 (+8) Dex 22 (+12) Wis 16 (+9)

Con 20 (+11) Int 2 (+2) Cha 6 (+4)

2010 I DRAGON 384

Bronze Griffon

The fearsome griffon statuette rears back on its hind
legs so that it can claw the air, and its beak is open as
if screaming. When dormant, the statuette tends to
snag clothing and pierce skin with casual handling,
and after a few scars and ruined cloaks, possessors
learn to handle these items with care.

The alchemist Boreanis crafted nine bronze grif¬
fons for nine eladrin lords as gifts for the esteemed
heroes of the war between Corellon and Lolth. When
the lords passed from life to death and from history
to legend, the figurines scattered across the planes to
owners less worthy than those to first use them. Many
eladrin nobles have more than a passing interest in
these items and would pay a fine reward for their
recovery.

RESK1NN1NG FIGURINES

To a degree, the form a figurine takes is chosen
for flavor. An ebony fly, for example, could just
as well be an alabaster swan without having
to change the statistics block in any way.
When looking at the figurines, you might find
one doesn’t match your character’s theme,
appearance, or interests, but the mechanics do
something you think can make the game more
fun for you. Change the figurine’s appearance to
become another creature, but only as long as the
new creature could have the same capabilities.

An onyx dog could become an onyx panther, but
an ebony fly couldn’t become an ebony yak, since
most yaks don’t fly.

Bazaar of the Bizarre.- Legendary Figurines

Bronze Griffon Level 19

With one command, the tiny bronze statuette vanishes and is
replaced by a fearsome bronze griffon.

Wondrous Item 105,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this
figurine to conjure a ferocious griffon (see below for
statistics). As a free action, you can spend a healing surge
when activating this item to give the creature temporary hit
points equal to your healing surge value.

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +18

HP 24; Bloodied 12; see also blood frenzy

AC 30; Fortitude 30, Reflex 29, Will 28

Speed 6, fly 10

4 Claws (standard; at-will)

+22 vs. AC; 2d8 + 7 damage.

4 Aggressive Charger (while mounted by a friendly rider of
19th level or higher) ♦ Mount

When charging, the bronze griffon makes a claws attack in
addition to its rider’s charge attack.

Blood Frenzy (while it or its rider is bloodied)

The bronze griffon gains a +2 bonus to its speed, its fly
speed, and its attack rolls.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -

Str 24 (+16) Dex 23 (+15) Wis 19 (+13)

Con 22 (+15) Int 2 (+5) Cha 6 (+7)

Coral Dragon

Some believe the fragile coral dragons were the first
figurines created and that they house the spirits of
those noble dragons who aided Bahamut and Tiamat
in overcoming the King of Terror. Others claim the
coral dragons are not figurines at all, but are instead
memories of forgotten dragon gods from another
world. Regardless of their origins, seers and diviners
prize these relics for the wisdom they contain, while
cruder champions see great power in the violence of
which the figurines are capable.

Coral dragons are unusual in that they possess
cunning and wisdom that persists when inert. The
dragon’s personality varies from figurine to figurine,
but many possess great arrogance and expect their
possessors to show them respect. A few champion
specific causes, urging their possessors to advance
good (or evil) in the world.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febri

Bazaar of the Bizarre.- Legendary Figurines

Coral Dragon Level 25

An unusually large figurine, nearly afoot long, this delicate

multicolored statuette is old.

Wondrous Item 625,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this
figurine to conjure a multicolored dragon that has long
whiskers drooping from its snout and a lithe body that coils
and uncoils with agitation (see below for statistics). As a
free action, you can spend a healing surge when activating
this item to give the creature temporary hit points equal to
your healing surge value.

Power (Daily): Standard Action. You perform the Loremaster’s
Bargain ritual without expending components (Player’s
Handbook, page 308). The ritual functions as described
except you make a History check in place of the Religion
check, and determine your bonus to checks made during
the skill challenge based on your History check result.

Power (At-Will): Standard Action. The coral dragon regains the
use of its breath weapon power.

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +20;

truesight 5

HP 30; Bloodied 15

AC 37; Fortitude 36, Reflex 33, Will 35

Speed 6, fly 10, swim 6

4 Bite (standard; at-will)

+28 vs. AC; 2d6 + 9 damage.

4 Raking Claws (standard; at-will)

The dragon flies 10 squares. At any two points during this
move it makes the following attack: +28 vs. AC; 1d10 + 9
damage.

V Breath Weapon (standard; encounter)

Close blast 5; +26 vs. Fortitude; the dragon pushes the
target 5 squares.

Ancient Wisdom (minor 1/round; encounter)

The dragon grants a +10 power bonus to the conjurer’s
knowledge check or monster knowledge check made
before the end of the conjurer’s next turn.

Alignment Unaligned Languages Common, Draconic

Str 28 (+21) Dex 23 (+18) Wis 26 (+20)

Con 23 (+18) Int 18 (+16) Cha21(+17)

Electrum Serpent

The delicate electrum serpent frequently dangles
from a thin chain so that it can be worn about the
neck, but a few include pins to serve as pendants as
well. Additionally, others might be standard 2-inch
tall statuettes.

The electrum serpent is a strange figurine in that it
seems to contain two creatures in one. One command
summons forth a fearsome snake that streaks across
the battlefield and sinks foot-long fangs into its foes.

A second command summons a transparent serpent
with milk-white scales that slithers and coils around
its master or ally to bestow new life and vigor. Neither
serpent ever appears at the same time, though some
legends claim the serpents would turn upon each
other if they both did appear at once.

Electrum Serpent Level 21

The silvery statuette features tiny jade slivers as its eyes, a color

it retains when you conjure the creature housed within it.

Wondrous Item 225,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this

figurine to conjure either a metallic serpent or a translucent
serpent (see below for statistics). As a free action, you can
spend a healing surge when activating this item to give the
creature temporary hit points equal to your healing surge

Power (At-Will): Standard Action. The metallic electrum
serpent regains the use of its constricting serpent power.

Power (Encounter): Standard Action. The transparent electrum
serpent regains the use of its soothing serpent power.

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +19;

low-light vision

HP 26; Bloodied 13

AC 33; Fortitude 31, Reflex 32, Will 29
Resist insubstantial (translucent serpent only)

Speed 6, climb 6, swim 6
I Bite (standard; at-will) ♦ Acid, Poison

+22 vs. Fortitude; 1d10 + 7 damage, and the target takes
ongoing 5 acid and poison damage (save ends).

I Constricting Serpent (standard; metallic serpent only;
encounter) ♦ Acid

+22 vs. Reflex; the target is grabbed (escape ends). Each
time the target starts its turn grabbed by the electrum
serpent, it takes 10 acid damage.

4 Soothing Serpent (standard; translucent serpent only;
encounter) ♦ Healing

Targets one ally; the electrum serpent enters the target’s
space and coils around the target creature, where it
remains until commanded to move. As a minor action,
while the serpent is so coiled, the conjurer can issue a
command to allow the ally to spend a healing surge or
make a saving throw.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -

Str 24 (+17) Dex 22 (+16) Wis 18 (+14)

Con 21 (+15) Int 2 (+6) Cha 6 (+8)

Emerald Frog

Portraits depicting Khyaran the Profound all share
one odd feature. In every painting, the artist included
an inch-long emerald frog. Many at first believed the
inclusion of the frog to be an affectation of the artist-
Khyaran relied on the great talent of Ruobald Kent,
whose talent with the brush exceeded all his contem¬
poraries. Later, most rejected the theory because the
frog never appeared in any of Kent’s other works. The
frog then remained a mystery until an adventuring
group located the Profound’s tomb and recovered the
frog, learning of its unusual magical properties.

Since the emeraldfrog’s rediscovery, many artificers
and alchemists have sought to reproduce its curious

2010 | DRAGON 384

Bazaar of the Bizarre.- Legendary Figurines

magic to create new figurines modeled after the first.
These copies are worthwhile, but none of them come
close to matching the original’s power. Some say the
frog, despite its modest size, could swallow a dragon
whole, though the methods by which it achieved this
are thus far beyond any artisan’s understanding.

Emerald Frog Level 14

The delicate emerald statuette of a tiny frog contains a smaller
speck of darkness inside it.

Wondrous Item 21,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this
figurine to conjure an innocuous emerald frog (see below
for statistics). As a free action, you can spend a healing
surge when activating this item to give the creature
temporary hit points equal to your healing surge value.

Emerald Frog

Tiny natural animate

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +10

HP 19; Bloodied 9

AC 25; Fortitude 25, Reflex 23, Will 22
Speed 4

+ Grasping Tongue (standard; at-will)

+14 vs. Reflex; the target is immobilized until the end of
the frog’s next turn.

Distant Origin

The conjurer can use the square the emerald frog occupies
as the origin square for his or her nonweapon ranged and
close attack powers, and the frog is not affected by such
powers when it is used as the origin square.

Frog Hop (move; at-will)

The frog jumps 6 squares.

Shared Perspective

The conjurer can see through the emerald frog’s eyes.
While the emerald frog has line of sight to the conjurer,
enemies cannot gain combat advantage against the
conjurer by flanking the conjurer.

Hopping Escape (immediate reaction, when the frog is missed
by a melee attack; at will)

The emerald frog shifts 2 squares.

Alignment Unaligned Languages -

Str 1 (+2) Dex 24 (+14) Wis 16 (+10)

Con 21 (+12) Int 2 (+3) Cha 6 (+5)

Mercury Wasp

Shifting dunes, obsidian islands, and nomadic tief¬
ling bands are all that remain of the once mighty
empire obliterated by devastating magic long ago.
Called the Sea of Dust, few dare travel the track¬
less wastes because terrors beyond counting exist
here, and the area’s landscape is as dangerous as the
fiercest monster. For all the dangers it poses, adven¬
turers still mount expeditions into the wastes in
hopes of recovering the fabulous treasures believed
to be housed in lost ruins and decimated cities. Few
adventurers recover items, but the rare magic discov¬
ered is enough to draw new explorers from all over
the world.

The mercury wasps were uncovered from the fabled
Forgotten City. Mages deemed the items to be figu¬
rines of wondrous power since they shared the same
properties as other items, but they had one distinc¬
tive quality. Rather than conjure a single creature,
the figurine summoned a swarm of thumb-size black
wasps that seethed and hummed with unexpected
fury. Many believe these wasps speak to the character
of the lost peoples destroyed long ago.

Mercury Wasp Level 16

This curious glass figurine contains quicksilver.

Wondrous Item 45,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this

figurine to conjure a swarm of stinging wasps (see below for
statistics). As a free action, you can spend a healing surge
when activating this item to give the creature temporary hit
points equal to your healing surge value.

Power (At-Will): Standard Action. The mercury wasp swarm
regains the use of its angry swarm power.

Mercury Wasp Swarm

Medium natural animate (swarm)

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +11;

tremorsense 5

Cloud of Stingers (Poison) aura 1; any creature other than the
conjurer that starts its turn within the aura takes 5 poison
damage.

HP 21; Bloodied 10

AC 27; Fortitude 25, Reflex 26, Will 24

Resist half damage from melee and ranged attacks;

Vulnerable 5 against close and area attacks
Speed 1, fly 4 (hover, altitude limit 2)
i Stinging Swarm (standard; at-will) ♦ Poison
+17 vs. Fortitude; 2d10 poison damage.

Angry Swarm (standard; encounter) ♦ Poison
Close burst 1; + 17 vs. Fortitude; 2d10 poison damage, and
the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls (save ends).
Alignment Unaligned Languages -

Str 10 (+8) Dex 23 (+14) Wis 17 (+11)

Con 21 (+13) Int 1 (+3) Cha 1 (+3)

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Bazaar of the Bizarre.- Legendary Figurines

Serpentine Owl

Many believe that explorers fashioned these owls to
serve as companions and scouts for the first elves who
traveled the world. The explorers used them to scout
for suitable sites in which the elves could establish
new communities beyond their native plane. Adven¬
turers have recovered many serpentine owls and other
figurines from these ruins, suggesting the complete
collection owes its existence to these earliest mages
and mystics.

Serpentine Owl Level 17

This serpentine statuette can serve as a messenger, guide, or

guardian, depending on the command you give it.

Wondrous Item 65,000 gp

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this
figurine to conjure a giant owl with green and brown
feathers (see below for statistics). As a free action, you can
spend a healing surge when activating this item to give the
creature temporary hit points equal to your healing surge

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this
figurine to conjure a Tiny owl that behaves as if you had
performed the Animal Messenger ritual (Player’s Handbook,
page 300) or the Animal Friendship ritual (Player’s
Handbook 2, page 212) chosen at the time when you use
this power. You do not expend components for these
rituals. When you next take an extended rest or when the
effect of either ritual ends, the serpentine owl returns to
you in its normal statuette form.

Power (At-Will): Standard Action. The serpentine owl regains
the use of its swooping claws power.

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +20;

darkvision

HP 22; Bloodied 11

AC 28; Fortitude 26, Reflex 27, Will 28
Speed 4, fly 8
+ Claws (standard; at-will)

+20 vs. AC; 2d6 + 5 damage.

4 Swooping Claws (standard; encounter)

The serpentine owl flies 8 squares and makes a claws
attack at any one point during its movement. The owl does
not provoke opportunity attacks from the target of this
attack when moving. If the serpentine owl hits a Medium or
smaller target with this attack, the target falls prone.
Combat Advantage

The owl’s claws attack deals 1d6 extra damage against any
target granting combat advantage to it.

Owl’s Boon

The conjurer gains darkvision as long as it remains within S
squares of the serpentine owl.

Alignment Unaligned Languages telepathy 10

Skills Stealth+19

Str 21 (+13) Dex 23 (+14) Wis24(+15)

Con 16 (+11) Int 4 (+5) Cha10(+8)

Tourmaline Turtle

Among the most powerful figurines is the coveted
tourmaline turtle. The figurine is not so much prized
for its considerable power in battle, but for the utility
it offers to its conjurer. The turtle, when called forth
from the small carving, is enormous, with a mighty
structure on its back offering shelter and comfort to
those permitted entry. Furthermore, the device also
functions as a vehicle, allowing passengers to cross
the planes with but a single command.

Tourmaline Turtle Level 23

On your command, the carving swells in size to become a
mighty turtle that can carry you wherever you wish to travel.
Wondrous Item 425,000 gp

Property: While conjured, the tourmaline turtle is considered
a navigation focus for the Plane Shift ritual (Manual of
the Planes , page 150). When traveling to other planes
using that ritual, the tourmaline turtle must move from
one large body of water (or other liquid) to another. After
transporting, the tourmaline turtle disappears and it cannot
be conjured again until after the conjurer takes an extended

Power (Daily ♦ Conjuration): Standard Action. Use this

figurine to conjure a massive turtle capable of carrying you
and your allies on its back (see below for statistics). There
must be a body of water adjacent to you in which the turtle
can appear; otherwise you cannot use this power. As a free
action, you can spend a healing surge when activating this
item to give the creature temporary hit points equal to your
healing surge value.

2010 | DRAGON 384

Bazaar of the Bizarre.- Legendary Figurines

Initiative as conjurer Senses Perception +17

Airy Water aura 5; allies within the aura can breathe normally
and speak normally while underwater.

HP 28; Bloodied 14

AC 34; Fortitude 35, Reflex 30, Will 32
Speed 1, swim 4
+ Bite (standard; at-will)

Reach 2; +26 vs. AC; 2d8 + 9 damage.

Multiple Riders

The tourmaline turtle can carry up to twelve Medium or
Small characters weighing no more than 14,400 pounds.

If more than 14,400 pounds are placed on it, the turtle
disappears and cannot be conjured again until after the
conjurer takes an extended rest.

Tourmaline Shell ♦ Mount

Creatures riding the tourmaline turtle t
environmental effects.

ire protected from

Alignment Unaligned Languages

Str 28 (+20) Dex 21 (+16)

Wis 23 (+17)

Con 26 (+19) Int 2 (+7)

Cha 6 (+9)

About the Author

Robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer
whose more recent work can be found in the Player’s Hand¬
book 3®, Martial Power 2 , and Draconomicon 2: Metallic
Dragons. Robert would like to thank Teeuwynn Woodruff
and Tim Beach for the inspiration and ideas drawn from their
Bazaar of the Bizarre article in Dragon® #196.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

“The ignorant believe that we bargain for power.
Some even think we sell our souls for it.
They say we serve mysterious masters.
The truth-the truth that they fear-is that when
you master yourself you have no masters.”

-Dav Regis,

instructor at the Vermillion Academy

Warlock

By Matthew Sernett

Illustrations by William O'Connor and Tyler Walpole

February 2010 | DRAGON

Warlock Basics

Power flows from many sources. For those who study
dusty tomes or seek out wrinkled sages, knowledge
is power. For those willing to beg upon bended knee,
power is a reward. Warlocks walk a straighter path:
Power comes from those who possess it, and if you
want that power, take it from them.

Warlocks receive their arcane abilities through a
bargain or ritual. A link with supernatural forces gives
each warlock the ability to siphon the power of distant
beings. Whether these entities know how the warlock
uses their might or if they are somehow weakened or
harmed by it matters little. A deal is a deal.

THE BASICS

“A warlock’s magic is not for the weak of will or weak of
heart. You must have the courage of the thief to take the
power and the fortitude of the warrior to keep it. Lack
either, andyou might have to keep the promises you make.”

-Raigen Zul, tiefling hexer

A warlock occupies the striker role, so one typi¬
cally works best when the character is causing a
lot of damage from range and staying out of melee.
However, much of the warlock’s increased-damage
potential stems from judicious use of Warlock’s
Curse. This ability relies upon the warlock target¬
ing the nearest enemy. It works out fine in the fight
against the solo monster, but when facing multiple
foes, it can be very useful to have powers and magic
items that provide for mobility so that you can posi¬
tion yourself to attack the foe you want instead of
whatever foe happens to advance upon your position.

A warlock can also help the party by providing
some elements of control that typically affect a single
target. Look for powers that slow, daze, immobilize,
restrain, or stun since these can help you limit the
movement of enemies and keep them the nearest
target or allowing your allies to maneuver and gain
tactical advantage.

Eldritch Blast

Unlike most other classes, a warlock is assigned
one at-will power at first level, and the other is
determined by the warlock’s Eldritch Pact. Fortu¬
nately, the assigned power is eldritch blast. This
ranged power delivers high damage, has a decent
range, and acts as a basic attack. You can choose
at character creation whether to use Charisma or
Constitution with the power, but that choice should
depend on which Eldritch Pact you’ve chosen since
the powers associated with each pact often favor
one ability or the other.

Eldritch Pact

Warlocks take their powers from otherworldly enti¬
ties through a pact that binds the entities’ power to
them. Your choice of pact reveals something impor¬
tant about who your character is, but it also affects
your character-building choices.

“Few think of the power of those in the Feywild, but just as
its mountains rise higher and forests fold darker, so too are
its kings greater and their magic more wondrous.”

-Riddle Warryn,
gnome footman to the Prince of Frost

Your highest ability score should be Charisma, but
many of your best power options also benefit from
a high Intelligence. Avoid a high Constitution and
powers that use Constitution as their basis. The
Misty Step pact boon you gain from this pact allows
you to teleport, and if you use it to travel 3 squares
you’ll also be benefiting from concealment due to
Shadow Walk.

Feats: Improved Misty Step (Player’s Handbook)

Infernal Pact

“I’ve made my promises to the infernal powers, and they’ve
taken all they can from me. Now it’s my turn to use them.
Hell hath no fury I fear.”

-Sancha, tiefling lost soul

Your highest ability score should be Constitution fol¬
lowed closely by Intelligence. Avoid powers that rely
on Charisma. Since many infernal pact powers deal
fire damage, look for ways to change the damage type
of a power or add a damage type. Arcane Admixture
from Arcane Power is an obvious choice at paragon
level.

Feats: Improved Dark One’s Blessing ( Player’s
Handbook)

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Felon

Warlock Basics

Star Pact

“Have you seen the stars tonight? Didyou see them dancing?
Can you hear the dreams they whisper when you sleep?”

-Rillia, half-elf student of Caiphon

The special benefits you gain from the star pact
often rely upon Intelligence, but the ability score you
use to attack might be Constitution or Charisma.
Instead of trying to keep three ability scores high,
you might want to pick one path or another based
upon if you prefer the Constitution- or Charisma-
based powers.

Your Fate of the Void pact boon gets really good
when multiple foes you curse die in the same round.
Keep this in mind when fighting minions. You can
curse minions that other characters kill so that your
attacks against the main enemy are more likely to hit.
Feats: Improved Fate of the Void ( Player’s Handbook)

Dark Pact

“We keep our darkest secrets close to our hearts. So too is it
with the world. The shadows you find in the Underdark are
deeper than all others and hide the greatest mysteries.”

-Tezzym Veladorn, drow darkwalker

The Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide provides the
option of the Dark Pact, a pact with beings that dwell
in the shadows of the Underdark. Charisma and
Intelligence should be your highest ability scores. The
Darkspiral Aura pact boon you gain from this pact is
complicated but potent. Curse and kill a lot of min¬
ions to rack up a high Darkspiral Aura total, but don’t
wait too long before using the ability. Even a short rest
wipes out the total, so fire away!

Feats: Demonweb Spiral, Improved Darkspiral
Aura (both from the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide)

YOUR ELDRITCH PACT

How did you come by your mysterious powers? Did
you embark upon this path in full knowledge of its
dangers, was your pact something of joke that sud¬
denly became serious, or were you forced to swear
to the pact for some reason? Below are some ideas
for how a warlock might have discovered each type
of pact. Pick one for your history or allow one to
inspire your own idea.

Fey Pact

♦ As a child you were kidnapped by fey, brought
to the Feywild, and replaced by a changeling.
You stole some of the power of the fey when
you escaped.

♦ You engaged in an ill-fated romance with a
member of the Court of Stars. Your pact is a
memento.

♦ A sibling was stolen away by fey, and your pact
secured your sibling’s return.

Star Pact

♦ You did not seek this power. The stars called
out to you and bid you take it. They speak with
you still.

♦ You were born under a strange star and bear
birthmarks of important constellations.

♦ In dreams you can hardly remember, you spoke
to unfathomable beings of great power and
made promises you have now forgotten.

Dark Pact

♦ You were enslaved by drow and made a pact
with dark beings to escape your captors.

♦ You were trained by a drow outcast and became
an outcast yourself for associating with the
dark elf.

♦ Your father was an adventurer driven mad by the
horrors of the Underdark, but from his ramblings
you learned something of the ways of magic.

Infernal Pact

4 - You made a deal with a devil—simple as that.

♦ You interrupted the ritual of a devil cult and
had the powers of the ritual transmitted to you
rather than the intended target.

♦ You were born with a connection to the Hells,
and it has caused you woe since you were born.

Vestige Pact

♦ Your people respect the ancient ways and vener¬
ate the vestiges.

♦ You are a descendant of King Elidyr and might
have ruled an empire had Nerath not fallen to
the gnolls. Now the king speaks to you in the
hopes you will return Nerath to glory.

♦ It was an accident. You read aloud from a
strange old book you stole and suddenly spirits
were with you.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Warlock Basics

Vestige Pact

“I call upon you Khaeleth. Give to me that which you
granted to the kings of old, and I shall makeyour name live
in the memory of the world again.”

-Argonek , human warlock

Arcane Power offers the Vestige Pact, a pact made with
forgotten spirits of the world. Constitution should
be your highest score, with Intelligence being high
as well. You gain different benefits from the pact
depending on which vestige aids you at the moment.
This looks complex but in practice it’s simple. Many
powers grant you an extra benefit regardless of the
vestige you choose, and, when you use a daily power,
you can choose to change the Pact Boon from which
you benefit. Remember to take a look at the Pact
Boon in such daily powers and decide if the switch
makes sense during the combat.

Feats: Vestige Adept, Vestige Mastery, Vestige
Versatility (all from Arcane Power)

Prime Shot

Your +1 to hit from Prime Shot applies only to ranged
attacks, so don’t worry about it when making a close,
area, or melee attack. Using this ability often puts you
at risk, so you need to be careful if you seek its bene¬
fit. If you’re the nearest person to your foe and using a
ranged attack, it’s a good bet that your enemy is going
to be in melee with you soon.

Feats: Dragon Magazine Annual 2009 offers the
useful Called Shot feat for paragon-level characters.
This provides a +5 damage bonus whenever you hit a
target of Prime Shot!

Shadow Walk

Shadow Walk is a nifty ability that grants you a little
extra defense thanks to concealment. You don’t gain
total concealment from the power so you can’t hide
in it, but the -2 penalty to attack rolls against you
means it’s something you should keep in mind each
turn. You don’t have to move—especially if you’re not
in danger of being attacked-but you might find that
moving after you attack allows you to curse another
foe, and as long as you’ve already moved, you might as
well gain the benefit.

Feats: Arcane Power provides the useful Empow¬
ering Shadows feat, which provides a +1 bonus to
damage rolls when you benefit from concealment due
to Shadow Walk. Although not overwhelming, the
bonus to damage rolls has no type and can stack with
bonuses to damage rolls you gain from other sources.
At epic level, Ephemeral Stride from Arcane Power
allows you to move through enemy squares without
provoking opportunity attacks while benefiting from
Shadow Walk. This could be a useful ability, but
hopefully you’re teleporting around the battlefield by
that level. If you need it, you’ll know.

Warlock’s Curse

Warlock’s Curse is the meat and potatoes of your
striker damage output. Unfortunately, to put a curse
on a foe, that enemy needs to be the nearest one
to you. Once it’s on, the curse works for the rest of
the encounter regardless of where the enemy goes,
but it can be tough do your part when the enemy is
screened by a bunch of minions or other dangers
stand between you and the best target of your attacks.

Look for ways to teleport and otherwise move
swiftly around the battlefield so that you can curse

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Felon

Warlock Basics

whomever you want. If you don’t have access to that
kind of mobility, consider moving around the battle¬
field so that you can curse multiple foes but maintain
attacks against a single enemy. You might attack your
chosen foe, move so that another foe is nearest and
curse it, and then move back to attack your chosen
enemy on the following round. This way you’re gain¬
ing the benefit of Warlock’s Curse and Shadow Walk,
and when that chosen foe falls, you receive the ben¬
efit of your pact boon and your new target is already
cursed.

Feats: Arcane Power presents several good options.
If you’re a human warlock, consider Reckless Curse
at heroic level. Its bonus to attack rolls stacks with
Prime Shot, and hopefully your target is more likely
to attack the defender than you. At paragon tier,
Twofold Curse presents the best option, allowing
you to curse the two nearest enemies with a minor
action-an ability that can save you a lot of tactical
maneuvering on the battlefield. At epic level, you can
take Warding Curse, which provides a +2 bonus to
all defenses when a creature you cursed attacks you.
Also, consider the feats in this article.

WARLOCK BUILDS

You can differentiate your warlock with your choice
of pact and powers, and they should determine your
highest ability score as described above. Each pact
thus ends up being a build of its own to some degree,
but warlocks largely function in the same way: You
want to stay at range and control which enemy is
nearest to you.

A number of warlock powers have a close range of
a few squares, but those should be occasional choices
to deal with foes who move too close. Building your
character to stand within 2 squares of melee and use
close powers means that you’ll likely fail to benefit
both from Prime Shot and Shadow Walk. You’ll end
up devoting a lot of character resources, such as feats
and magic items, to make your tactical choice feasible
rather than powerful.

Power Selection

Choose powers that provide you with an extra benefit
due to your Eldritch Pact. There might be some levels
where a better option exists for your character, but
for the most part, the pact benefit on a spell provides
a straight power boost over other powers of the same
level.

Although the Player’s Handbook lists the pact asso¬
ciated with a spell, it does not limit who can take that
spell by Eldritch Pact; later sources don’t bother list¬
ing the pact for that reason.

RACE AND PACT

Races that provide bonuses to Charisma, Constitu¬
tion, or Intelligence work best, and the ability scores
that benefit from a racial bonus determine which
Eldritch Pact will utilize the ability scores the most.
The table below outlines which choices are best
for each player character race, taking into account
both ability score bonuses and other racial abilities.
Races without relevant bonuses to abilities and no
beneficial racial traits are denoted with “None.”
Some others bear special mention due to their
unique suitability.

Changeling: Changelings gain a +2 to Charisma
and can choose to gain a +2 to Intelligence. This
makes them well-suited to the dark, fey, and star
pacts. Given their racial bonus to Bluff checks, being
trained in Bluff and taking the beguiling tongue power
from Player’s Handbook makes for a fun choice.

Githyanki: Githyanki make excellent warlocks,
but the Lich Queen has outlawed all such ties to other
powers unless by her express permission. Warlocks
with star pacts are the most closely watched. The lich
queen suspects a Far Realm connection in star pacts,
but she uses such warlocks against aberrant beings
such as mind flayers for the time being.

Gnome: Gnomes readily become warlocks, and
many adopt the fey pact. Thanks to Shadow Walk and
the Reactive Stealth racial ability, you could conceiv¬
ably start many combats with concealment and be
hidden until at least the end of your first turn. Unfor¬
tunately, warlocks can’t choose training in Stealth
as a starting skill. Consider the Shadow Initiate feat
from Dragon #379; it gives you training in Stealth and
access to the assassin’s shroud power.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Felon

Race

Half-Elf: A half-elf can be a strong warlock using
any pact, but the at-will power you take from another
class might influence your choice. Given that the war-
lock is one of the only classes that uses Constitution
for attack rolls with at-will powers, you might want to
make Charisma your highest ability score and choose
the dark, fey, or star pact. Then you should look at the
bard and sorcerer for your extra at-will power since
those classes use Charisma to attack.

Hobgoblin: Like the half-elf, a hobgoblin war-
lock can work well as a warlock with any pact. The
infernal pact is most common among the militaristic
goblinoids as they take inspiration from the legendary
discipline of the legions of Hell. You might consider
taking the star pact and attempting to keep two abil¬
ity scores equally high. This would allow you to use
all the star pact powers with equal ability.

Tiefling: Tieflings make excellent warlocks but
an odd dissonance exists between their racial abilities
and the pact that makes the most sense for a tiefling
character: Tieflings gain a bonus to Charisma and
Intelligence, but the powers that benefit from the
infernal pact use Constitution. Ifyou play a tiefling
with an infernal pact, take the Hellfire Blood feat and
consider the feats in the upcoming Player’s Handbook
Races: Tieflings for more advantageous feats.

Bladeling

Bugbear

Bullywug

Changeling

Deva

Doppelganger

Dragonborn

Duergar

Dwarf

Eladrin

Elf

Genasi

Githyanki

Githzerai

Gnoll

Gnome

Goblin

Goliath

Half-elf

Half-ore

Halfling

Hobgoblin

Human

Kalashtar

Kenku

Kobold

Minotaur

Ore

Revenant

Shadar-kai

Longtooth shifter
Razorclaw shifter

Tiefling

Warforged

Wilden

Warlock Basics

Pacts

Infernal, Star, Vestige
Dark, Fey, Star
Any

Dark, Fey, Star
Dark, Fey, Star
Dark, Fey, Star
Infernal, Star, Vestige
Infernal, Star, Vestige

Infernal, Star, Vestige
None

Infernal, Star, Vestige
Dark, Fey, Star
Dark, Fey, Star
Infernal, Star, Vestige

None

Dark, Fey, Star
Infernal, Star, Vestige
Any

Dark, Fey, Star
Infernal, Star, Vestige
Infernal, Star, Vestige
Infernal, Star, Vestige
Infernal, Star, Vestige

None

Dark, Fey, Star
Infernal, Star, Vestige
Infernal, Star, Vestige

HEROIC TIER FEATS

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
any level who meets the prerequisites.

Bloodied Boon

Prerequisite: Warlock, Eldritch Pact class fea¬
ture, Warlock’s Curse class feature

Benefit: You can choose to gain your pact boon
when an enemy you curse is first bloodied. Ifyou do
so, you remove your curse from that enemy.

Brutal Curse

Prerequisite: Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class
feature

Benefit: When you roll your Warlock’s Curse
damage, reroll any die that displays a 1 until you have
a result of 2 or higher.

Curse oe Displacement

Prerequisite: Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class
feature

Benefit: When you score a critical hit against the
target of your Warlock’s Curse, you teleport the target
3 squares as a free action.

Cursed Shot

Prerequisite: Warlock, Prime Shot class feature,
Warlock’s Curse class feature

Benefit: When determining who is nearest for
the purposes of the Prime Shot class feature, you
ignore all allies adjacent to you, as well as allies who
are helpless, stunned, dominated, unconscious, or
petrified.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

Warlock Basics

Exultant Shadow Step

Prerequisite: Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class
feature

Benefits: When you score a critical hit against
the target of your Warlock’s Curse, you can teleport 4
squares as a free action.

Killing Curse

Prerequisite: Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class
feature

Benefit: The extra damage dice from your War¬
lock’s Curse class feature increase from d6s to d8s.

Primed Curse

Prerequisite: Warlock, Prime Shot class feature,
Warlock’s Curse class feature

Benefit: The bonus to attack rolls granted hy
Prime Shot increases to +2 if the target is also cursed
by you.

Prolonged Curse

Prerequisite: Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class
feature

Benefit: When you hit a target with a warlock
attack that deals ongoing damage, increase the
ongoing damage by 1 point per Warlock’s Curse die
you roll.

Warlock’s Sight

Prerequisite: Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class
feature

Benefit: You don’t take the normal -2 penalty to
attack rolls if your target has cover or concealment as
long as your target is cursed by you.

Helleire Hex

PARAGON TIER FEATS

Feats in this section are available to any characters of
11th level and above who meet the prerequisites.

Curse oe the Blind Stars

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, Warlock’s
Curse class feature

Benefit: When you hit a cursed foe with an
encounter or daily warlock attack that causes radi¬
ant damage, you can forgo dealing Warlock’s Curse
damage to instead cause the target to become blinded
until the end of your next turn.

Fey Revel Glamor

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, Warlock’s
Curse class feature, fey pact

Benefit: Whenever you deal Warlock’s Curse
damage to a target and do so with a warlock daily
attack power, the target is slowed (save ends). If the
power already subjects the target to a slowing effect
that a save can end, the target is instead immobilized

Hell’s Chosen

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, multiclass
divine class, infernal pact, eldritch blast

Benefit: Whenever you would deal Warlock’s
Curse damage against an enemy, you can choose to
treat that damage as fire damage. In addition, you can
have your eldritch blast deal fire damage.

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, Warlock’s
Curse class feature, infernal pact

Benefit: Whenever you deal Warlock’s Curse
damage to a target with a warlock daily attack power,
the target takes ongoing 5 fire damage (save ends). If
the power already deals ongoing fire damage, instead
increase that ongoing damage by 5.

Protective Hex

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, Warlock’s
Curse class feature

Benefit: When you hit an enemy you have cursed
with an attack, that enemy takes a -2 penalty to close
and melee attacks against your allies until the end of
your next turn.

Sibling to the Stars

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, multiclass
divine class, star pact, eldritch blast

Benefit: Whenever you would deal Warlock’s
Curse damage against an enemy, you can choose to
treat that damage as radiant damage. In addition, you
can have your eldritch blast deal radiant damage.

Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, Warlock’s
Curse class feature, star pact

Benefit: Whenever you deal Warlock’s Curse
damage to a target and do so with a warlock daily
attack power, the target is dazed (save ends). If the
power already subjects the target to a dazing effect
that a save can end, the target is instead dazed and
takes ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends both).

Veil oe Waking Dreams

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

EPIC TIER FEATS

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
21st level who meets the prerequisites.

Critical Curse

Prerequisite: 21st level, warlock, Warlock’s Curse
class feature

Benefit: If you score a critical hit with a warlock
power, you can apply your Warlock’s Curse damage
if you have it available, even if the target is not cursed
by you.

Contagious Curse

Prerequisite: 21st level, warlock, Warlock’s Curse
class feature

Benefit: When an enemy cursed by you drops to
0 hit points, you can curse all enemies adjacent to the
target as a free action.

Cursed Spells

Prerequisite: 21st level, warlock, Warlock’s Curse
class feature

Benefit: You add your Intelligence modifier to the
extra damage dealt by your Warlock’s Curse.

Inevitable Doom

Prerequisite: 21st level, warlock, Warlock’s Curse
class feature

Benefit: If you miss a cursed enemy with an attack
and deal no damage to it, you gain a +ld6 bonus to
your next damage roll against it made before the end
of the encounter. Each time you miss the target with
the attack, increase the damage bonus by ld6.

Mind-Numbing Curse

Prerequisite: 21st level, warlock, Warlock’s Curse
class feature

Benefit: When you hit a cursed foe with an
encounter or daily warlock attack that causes psy¬
chic damage, you can forgo dealing Warlock’s Curse
damage to instead cause the target to become dazed
until the end of your next turn.

About the Author

Matthew Sernett is a writer and game designer for Wizards of
the Coast who splits his time between Dungeons & Dragons®
and Magic: The Gathering®. Recent credits include Player’s
Handbook® Races: Tieflings, The Plane Above™: Secrets of the Astral
Sea, and Magic the Gathering: Zendikar™. When he’s not making
monsters or building worlds, he’s watching bad fantasy movies
you don’t realize exist and shouldn’t bother to learn about.

To Walk on
Unseen Paths

By Ari Marmell

Illustration by Tyler Jacobson

The depths of the darkened woods, the rock faces of
the jagged hills, and the foul reaches of the stagnant
swamps are all as frightening, as mysterious, and
as foreign to the average commoner as if they truly
were alien worlds. And, in some instances, they
are. Warnings to remain clear of toadstool rings, to
shun strange lights in the forest, and to avoid killing
certain sorts of birds in flight are more than rural
superstition. In some regions, at least, they represent
dangers as real as the weather or the predators of the
wild, because here the influence of the Feywild seeps
into the natural world. Where the trees grow thickest
and the waters run deep, the realm of the fey casts its
shadows into the realm of mortals, because nature
becomes a doorway between them.

And those who were born nearby-those who walk
these unseen paths and those who learn the ways of
the natural world beneath the Feywild’s influence-
are subtly different from others of their ilk.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febri

To Walk on Unseen Paths

THE UNSEEN PATH

In many parts of the world, the overlap between the
middle realm and the Feywild is blatantly obvious.
Terrain and scenery change abruptly, fey creatures
are common, magic looks peculiar, and one can easily
and clearly step from one reality to another. But not all
places where the walls are weak between the mortal
and fey worlds are nearly so obvious; perhaps even
most of them are not. Twisting backwoods trails wind
through the mists between planes, subjecting travelers
to the influence of both worlds. Arches of branches
and standing stones mark hidden doorways, and
groves exist more fully in the mortal world, or more
fully in the Feywild, based on season or time of day.

Sages call this sort of phenomenon “planar bleed.”
But among those who hunt and trap and adventure
within such regions, they are often known as the
Unseen Path.

Rangers who walk the Unseen Path are a peculiar
sort. They’re not magic-users any more than other
rangers are such, but something of the fey is about
them, and they have a bond with the natural world
that other rangers do not share. They frequently
appear to see or hear what others do not, and they
gaze at the world through faintly alien eyes. A few
such rangers hail from the Feywild, but most are
humans or other natural world humanoids who were
born, or who learned the ways of the wild, within one
of these fey-touched realms. Their exploits border
on the supernatural, touching the very edges of fey
magic without ever crossing over.

Those who walk the Unseen Path do not form an
organization or an order in any formal sense. Rather,
the environment has affected these individuals in the
same way, and they share similar beliefs and attitudes

toward nature, the Feywild, and the horrors of the
world. They often recognize one another on sight, and
when they band together, they do so more by instinct
than by intent. They follow similar philosophies and
they respect the same forebears-but never officially
and never by design. They gather due to intuition and
mutual interest, much like the predators with whom
they share their woods, their valleys, and their fields.

Goals: The Unseen Path seeks harmony between
the Feywild and the natural world. They work to pro¬
tect those people who five near these areas of planar
bleed from the dangers of the other plane—be it the
Feywild encroaching on the world, or vice-versa—
and to protect the wilds of both worlds from outside
threats, such as aberrants, demons, and twisted fey.
They are not innately opposed to the growth of civi¬
lization or reasonable exploitation of nature, but they
do attempt to guide civilized peoples into adapting to
the natural environment, rather than razing it.

Walkers of the Unseen Path often possess addi¬
tional, instinctive goals that they do not entirely
understand. They might hunt certain types of crea¬
tures, violently protect a particular region, or feel the
need to either help or hinder travelers based on how
well the travelers follow local tradition and supersti¬
tion. In other words, they behave very much like a
region’s fey, albeit filtered through the perceptions
and the ethics of their own race, culture, and desires.

Size: It’s difficult to say how big the Unseen
Path might be, because it consists of dozens-if not
hundreds-of smaller groups. Each group is bound
together by an instinctive philosophy and frequently
remains unaware that any other groups just like them
exist. Any area of planar bleed with the Feywild,
should it finger long enough, results in a few locals
following the Unseen Path. So while any given gath¬

ering of the Unseen Path is small—anywhere from a
lone individual to roughly a dozen—if all the various
“pockets” of the Unseen Path were to gather in one
location, there might well be hundreds of Walkers.

Alignment: The bulk of Walkers on the Unseen
Path are unaligned, though good-aligned members
make up a significant minority. Walkers of other
alignments do exist, but they are of a wilder, more
unpredictable sort. These latter Walkers are less
prone to aid and protect others, and they favor stak¬
ing out a territory of planar bleed to prevent anyone
else from entering.

Philosophy: “Where the wilds of the world meet
the borders of the Feywild, there and only there is
nature most pure. Neither world is entirely whole
unto itself.”

Leadership: The Unseen Path has no true lead¬
ers, since it’s not an organization in any formal sense.
However, several Walkers have come before-men
and women whose actions and equilibrium with the
natural world make them worthy of respect and emu¬
lation. Perhaps two of the most renowned are Arkevia
Greenleaf (female human druid/ranger hybrid), said
to be descended from one of the greatest adventurers
of recorded history; and Oreph Calhad (male half-elf
ranger), who was born human until he reached such
unity with the Feywild—while still maintaining his
humanity—that he literally took on a partial fey aspect.

Membership Requirements: The Unseen Path
has no formal requirements, and nobody “joins”
it. Sometimes, rangers and other wilderness-based
characters who hail from, or dwell within, these areas
of Feywild influence develop a certain set of beliefs
and attitudes, making them “members” by defini¬
tion. It shows in their eyes and their demeanor, and
others who share those beliefs can recognize another

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Felon

To Walk on Unseen Paths

“Walker” with a simple Insight check (DC equal to
the observed Walker’s Bluff if he or she is trying to
hide an affinity for some reason; otherwise, equal to
the low standard DC for a skill check of a level equal
to the observed Walker).

Enemies: Most of the Unseen Path’s enemies are
obvious: any creatures or organizations that threaten
the inhabitants of these fey-touched areas and other
regions of the wild. For some Walkers, this extends
to otherworldly creatures that threaten the mortal
realm in general, such as aberrants or demons. But
for the non-evil, less territorial Walkers, enemies also
include fey who indiscriminately slaughter or torment
mortals, and mortals who exploit these areas beyond
their capacity to support sustainable life.

Rivals: Many primal organizations (druidic
circles, shamanic tribes, and the like) are allies of, or
at least sympathetic to, the Unseen Path, but a great
many others think ill of these rangers. Although
these organizations share a reverence for nature, the
Unseen Path believes both the mortal realm and the
Feywild contribute to nature’s purity, while the others
worship (or at least revere) primal spirits specific
to the natural world alone. These groups rarely act
actively hostile to the Unseen Path, though they also
do not aid them in their endeavors unless they share
an immediate mutual threat.

Unseen Path Lore
(History or Nature DC 14)

On occasion, some rangers (and, in rare cases, other
wilderness-focused characters) who were born or
who operate in areas of subtle Feywild influence are
affected by those phenomena in strange ways. They
take on subtle fey traits-of behavior, if not physical-
ity-and develop shared beliefs about the sanctity

of the natural world, believing that nature’s purest
form exists where the Feywild and the world merge.
Most see themselves as defenders of nature and all
who try to dwell in harmony with it, so they seek to
protect people from unnatural monsters and even
the dangers of the wild. A few become as capricious,
territorial, and even murderous as the worst of the fey
themselves.

RAISED IN
THE UNSEEN PATH

Although some rangers come to the Unseen
Path when their adventuring career has already
begun, others develop their abilities by sensing
the faint touch of the Feywild in their mind,
body, and soul before they seek adventure. Some
choose never to adventure, as well. Perhaps you
were born in a town very near a hidden doorway,
or grew up under the watchful eye of fey who
dwelt in the woods behind your family’s ram¬
shackle hut. You might even have been stolen
from your crib as an infant and taken to the Fey¬
wild. In this case, you must have been retrieved
swiftly-those who spend too long in the Feywild
develop beliefs and attitudes other than the
Unseen Path-but still, an element of the experi¬
ence stayed with you even to adulthood.

You can choose to make this experience one
of your character’s backgrounds (see Player’s
Handbook 2). While most characters with this
background are rangers who are followers of the
Unseen Path, you don’t have to be. You could be
anyone who experienced a childhood somehow
influenced by the Path.

Associated Skills: Arcana, Nature
Associated Language: Elven

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

To Walk on Unseen Paths

These rangers call the fey-touched wilds the
Unseen Path, and they dub themselves Walkers of the
Unseen Path. They are not part of a formal organiza¬
tion, in any sense of the word. Rather, those following
the Unseen Path have a collection of beliefs and
attitudes that they share with those who have similar
pasts. They have enough contact with each other to
pass along certain traditions and historical tales, and
members can identify one another. For the most part,
however, the Unseen Path is a philosophy more than

UNSEEN PATH FEAT$

The following feats can provide rangers with some
options that can assist in playing a Walker of the
Unseen Path.

Heroic Tier Teats

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
any level who meets the prerequisites.

Bestial Mobility

Prerequisite: Beast Mastery class feature
Benefit: When you and your beast companion
are adjacent to each other, you can either increase or
reduce the distance of any push, pull, or slide effect
on either you or your companion (but not both at
once) by 2 squares. If your beast companion is adja¬
cent to you, you can stand as a minor action.

Beast Rider

Prerequisite: Beast Mastery class feature
Benefit: If your beast companion is your size or
larger, and at least Medium size, you can ride it as a
mount. (This is an exception to the rule that mounts
must be no smaller than Large.) You can mount or
dismount your beast companion as a move action.

Eey Senses

Prerequisite: Trained in Nature
Benefit: Due to your exposure (or your ancestor’s
exposure) to the magic of the Fey wild, you gain a
+2 feat bonus to Perception and a +2 racial bonus to
saving throws against charm effects.

Eey-Minded

Prerequisite: Trained in Nature
Benefit: You can use Nature in place of Arcana for
fey-related monster knowledge checks. In addition,
you can now speak and write Elven. (If you already
know Elven, you can choose Giant or Goblin instead.)

New Ranger Powers

These techniques, developed by followers of the
Unseen Path, reflect those rangers’ association with
the Feywild and their great sensitivity to the natural
world around them. Although these are still mar¬
tial exploits—they do not truly draw on arcane or
primal magic—some include effects that are almost
supernatural in manifestation. Many focus on either
deceptive combat or on taking advantage of nature’s
ebb and flow to enhance an attack’s accuracy, as the
fey so often do.

Level 6 Utility Exploit

Through careful positioning and an instinctive connection, you
and your companion mercilessly harry the foe.

Daily ♦ Beast, Martial
Minor Action Personal

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, you and your beast com¬
panion gain combat advantage against any foe to whom
you are both adjacent. If you and your companion are also
flanking the target, you deal 2 extra damage on Hunter’s
Quarry damage rolls against it.

Level 7 Encounter Exploit

An off-hand attack your foe never saw coming causes disorien¬
tation as well as pain.

Encounter ♦ Martial, Weapon

Immediate Reaction Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.

Trigger: You make an opportunity attack against an enemy

Target: The triggering enemy

Attack: Strength vs. AC (off-hand weapon)

Hit: 2[W] (off-hand) + Strength modifier damage. Until the end
of your next turn, you also gain combat advantage and con¬
cealment against the target.

Febn

irylOlO ] DRAGON 384

To Walk on Unseen Paths

Level 9 Daily Exploit

Level 17 Encounter Exploit

Level 25 Daily Exploit

Murderous Aim Ranger Attack 9

A moment’s careful study reveals to you a vast array of weak
points to attack.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Ranged weapon

Target: One creature designated as your quarry

Attack: Dexterity vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Dexterity modifier damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, when you deal Hunter’s
Quarry damage to this target, you can reroll any Hunter’s
Quarry damage die result of 1 or 2 until it shows a value of
3 or higher.

Level 15 Daily Exploit

A vicious series of probes and strikes allows you to strike at
your opponent’s greatest vulnerabilities.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.
Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. the lowest of the target’s AC, Reflex, or
Fortitude

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is subject
to your questing blades (save ends). While the target is
subject to your questing blades, each time you attack the
target with a power that normally targets AC, you instead
attack the lowest of the target’s AC, Reflex, or Fortitude.
Miss: Half damage, and until the end of your next turn, each
time you attack the target with a power that normally
targets AC, you instead attack the lowest of the target’s AC,
Reflex, or Fortitude.

Deaths falls from above in the form of both arrow and talon.

Encounter ♦ Beast, Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Ranged weapon (beast 1)

Target: One creature

Primary Attack: Dexterity vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Effect: Make a secondary attack against the target that is a
melee beast 1.

Secondary Attack: Beast’s attack bonus vs. AC
Hit: 1 [B] + beast’s Strength modifier damage.

Special: If your beast companion is a bear, a raptor, or a
wolf, the beast can charge in place of the secondary attack.

Level 22 Utility Exploit

BBiaE—

Your companion crouches, muscles tensed, ready to strike at
all that threatens you.

Daily ♦ Beast, Stance
Minor Action Personal

Effect: Until the stance ends, your beast companion can score a
critical hit on a roll of 18-20, and it gains a power bonus to
damage rolls equal to your Strength modifier or Dexterity
modifier. As an opportunity action when an enemy hits you
with an attack, you can command your beast companion to
make a melee basic attack or a charge attack against that
enemy. The beast does not provoke opportunity attacks if
it charges during this action. Your beast companion gains
combat advantage on this attack if the target is also your

Fleet Hunter’s Stance_ Ranger Utility 22

You feel the flow of the earth beneath your feet, and it drives
you onward and through your astonishedfoes.

Daily ♦ Martial, Stance
Minor Action Personal

Effect: Until the stance ends, whenever you use a ranger power
that allows you to make multiple melee attacks, you can
shift 1 square after each such successful attack.

About the Author

Ari Marmell was born in New York, moved to Houston when
he was a year old, moved to Austin when he was 27, but has
spent most of his life living in other worlds through a combi¬
nation of writing and roleplaying games. He has been writing
more or less constantly for the last dozen years, though he has
only been paid for it the past five. He is the author of multiple
roleplaying game supplements including work on Dungeons
& Dragons®. Ari lives in Austin with his wife George and two

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.-

The Ruthless Reach
Barbarian

By Aeryn "Blackdirge" Rudel

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

Barbarians favor two-handed weapons because these
weapons allow their wielders to use more leverage,
a concept that translates into heavier, more damag¬
ing blows. One type of barbarian, the ruthless reach
barbarian, has mastered the use of two-handed reach
weapons, which apply leverage with each strike like
no other type of weapons. The long haft of a glaive,
halberd, or longspear allows a ruthless reach barbar¬
ian to generate immense power when targeting foes at
his or her weapon’s maximum reach—in other words,
2 squares away. The barbarian evocations presented
here take this into account, and a ruthless reach bar¬
barian is doubly dangerous when he or she has a little
room to work.

Although still a striker through and through, a
ruthless reach barbarian can act as controller in a
secondary role by attacking small groups of foes or
moving enemies around the battlefield. He or she
can even serve as a defender in a pinch, using reach
to keep enemies at bay or cutting weaker foes down
before they can enter melee range.

Level 1 At-Will Evocation

Savage Reach Barbarian Attack 1

Your great strength and the reach of your weapon allow you to
smash enemies aside with each blow.

At-Will ♦ Primal, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC.

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier damage, and you slide the
target 1 square. If you are raging, you can slide the target
2 squares.

Level 21: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Level 1 Encounter
Evocation

Room for Carnage Barbarian Attack 1

You drive your foes backward with the haft of your weapon,
giving you enough room to deliver a mighty blow.

Encounter ♦ Primal, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Effect: You push each enemy adjacent to you 1 square.

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier damage

vary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

Class Acts.- The Ruthless Reach Barbarian

Level 3 Encounter
Evocation

You surge towardyour target, your momentum and the length
of your weapon adding devastating speed and power to your

Encounter ♦ Primal, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Special: When charging, you can use this power in place of a
melee basic attack. When you do so, you gain a bonus to
the damage roll equal to the number of squares you moved
during the charge.

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Level 5 Daily Evocation

Your weapon smashes into your targets like a steel hurricane
as your fury enhances its leverage and power with each strike.

Daily ♦ Primal, Rage, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 2

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Target: Each enemy you can see and is not adjacent to you in
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier + Constitution modifier damage.
Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You enter the rage of the longstrike slayer. Until
the rage ends, you gain a power bonus equal to your
Constitution modifier to melee and close weapon damage
rolls against targets that are 2 or more squares away from

Level 7 Encounter
Evocation

Level 15 Daily Evocation

1 Devastating Leverage

Barbarian Attack 7 1

You swing your weapon ii
generated by its length to

rc, using the terrible power
ir enemy to the ground.

Encounter ♦ Primal, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you slide the target
1 square and knock the target prone.

Level 13 Encounter
Evocation

The howling winds of the tornado enhance your whirling
strike. As the fury of the tornado fills you, your fury reaches
out to strike at any who oppose you.

Daily ♦ Primal, Rage, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 2

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Target: Each enemy you can see in burst
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier damage, and ongoing S damage
(save ends).

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You enter the rage of the slashing tornado. Until the
rage ends, at the start of each of your turns, deal damage
equal to your Constitution modifier to each enemy within
2 squares of you.

Shattering Reach Barbarian Attack 13

The long haft of your weapon allows you to strike with enough
force to shatter armor and shields like brittle glass.

Encounter ♦ Primal, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target takes
a penalty to AC equal to your Constitution modifier until
the end of your next turn.

Level 16 Utility Evocation

No one can escape the reach of your rage.

Encounter ♦ Primal
Free Action Personal

Requirement: You must be wielding a two-handed reach
weapon.

Trigger: You score a critical hit with a barbarian attack power
Effect: You have threatening reach with the weapon used in
the triggering attack until the end of your next turn. You
also gain a bonus to damage rolls with opportunity attacks
equal to 3 + your Constitution modifier until the end of

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- The Ruthless Reach Barbarian

Level 23 Encounter
Evocation

Mammoth Leverage Barbari

Focusing all of your strength and the terrible power generated
by your weapon into one monumental blow, you smashyour
enemy clear across the battlefield.

Encounter ♦ Primal, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Requirement: You must be using a two-handed reach weapon.

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC.

Hit: 4[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you slide the target
2 squares and knock it prone.

BARBARIAN FEATS

The following feats are designed to help a ruthless
reach barbarian make the most of his or her two-
handed reach weapon.

Heroic Tier Teats

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
any level who meets the prerequisites.

Raging Reach

Prerequisite: Barbarian, rage strike
Benefit: When wielding a two-handed reach
weapon, you deal extra damage equal to your Consti¬
tution modifier with rage strike against targets that are
2 or more squares away from you.

Ruthless Rampage

Prerequisite: Barbarian, Rampage class feature
Benefit: When you make a free melee basic
attack with a two-handed reach weapon as a result of
Rampage, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll if
the target is 2 or more squares away from you.

About the Author

Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel is a staff writer and editor for
Goodman Games, a freelance writer and RPG designer, and
the editor-in-chief of the 4E magazine Level Up. He has been a
professional game designer since 2005, and his recent author
credits include Blackdirge’s Dungeon Denizens, Critter Cache:
Daemons, and Hero’s Handbook: Tiefling. Aeryn currently lives
in Modesto, California with his wife Melissa, a nongamer
whose tolerance for her husband’s geekery borders on the
supernatural.

Brutal Reach

Prerequisite: Barbarian

Benefit: When you are raging and wielding a two-
handed reach weapon, you can reroll any weapon
damage die that displays a 1 when making melee
attacks.

uaryioio | DRAGON 384

Febn

Class Acts:

Avenger

VENGEFUL TRADITIONS

By Robert J. Schwalb

Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard

Avengers share the same gods as other divine ser¬
vants, but their methods vary. For the avenger, only
war matters. Conflict rules the avenger’s thoughts.
Their purpose and training dictates that they meet
their god’s enemies with overwhelming violence.
They seek only to shatter those foes that would tear
down the god’s works and threaten its dominion.
Other divine characters might use other stratagems
to deal with their foes, but where they can sometimes
be scalpels, the avenger is always the hammer.

Given the avengers’ destructive bent, they find
themselves at odds with others in the same faith,
and, without a doubt, they cross paths and swords
with rivals. Some faiths have even gone so far as to
name avengers heretics, extremists, and deviants who
twist a god’s message to serve bloodthirsty agendas.
For this reason, avengers learn their techniques in
secluded monasteries. In these sacred halls, they
undergo punishing training until they prove them¬
selves worthy to undertake the holy mission assigned
to them. Attrition is high and often fatal, so only the
most fervent followers ever complete their training to
become avengers in truth.

MONASTIC [BACKGROUND]

The monastery defined your early life. You might
have trained in a secluded temple, hidden high
in the mountains as Moradin’s and Kord’s often
are. Or perhaps your home was tucked away in a
city, concealed by powerful wards so it blends in,
unseen, such as Erathis’s monasteries sometimes
are. How did you come to this monastery? What
was life like for you? In what ways did you excel
in your training? In what ways did you fall short?

Avandra Associated Skills: Dungeoneering,
Nature

Bahamut Associated Skills: Insight, Intimidate
Corellon Associated Skills: Arcana, Insight
Erathis Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Streetwise
loun Associated Skills: History, Insight
Kord Associated Skills: Athletics, Endurance
Melora Associated Skills: Nature, Perception
Moradin Associated Skills: Endurance, History
Pelor Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Heal
The Raven Queen Associated Skills: Intimidate,
Religion

Sehanine Associated Skills: Perception, Stealth

Febn

try 2010 ] DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Avenger

GODSWORN NEMESIS

“Liberation is my sword, freedom my shield. Tyrants shall
tremble, oppressors will quake, because no chains can with¬
stand my fury and no law can deny my wrath."

The avenger lives to destroy his or her gods’ enemies
and represents the divine interests in the world by the
weapons each wields. While the training’s principles
are never far from the avenger’s thoughts, the degree
to which an avenger pursues them varies from indi¬
vidual to individual. Some avengers see their training
and doctrines as tools they can use to overcome the
challenges they face, while others find they cannot
see beyond the strictures and find their lives defined
by the war the wage. These zealots are the godsworn
nemeses, and they represent some of the most fero¬
cious and single-minded warriors known in the world
and beyond.

Godsworn Alacrity

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Avandra

Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical
hit, you gain a +2 feat bonus to speed until the end of
your next turn as a godsworn boon. You can benefit
from only one godsworn boon as a result of any given
critical hit.

Godsworn Assault

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Erathis

Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
one ally you can see gains a +1 bonus to attack rolls
until the end of your next turn as a godsworn boon.

You can benefit from only one godsworn boon as a
result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Avalanche

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Kord
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical
hit, you can also push the target a number of squares
equal to your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier as a
godsworn boon. You can benefit from only one god¬
sworn boon as a result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Bulwark

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Moradin
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
you gain a +2 bonus to all defenses until the end of
your next turn as a godsworn boon. You can benefit
from only one godsworn boon as a result of any given
critical hit.

Godsworn Defender

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Bahamut
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
one ally you can see gains a +2 bonus to all defenses
until the end of your next turn as a godsworn boon.
You can benefit from only one godsworn boon as a
result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Fatalist

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship the Raven
Queen

Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
your target takes extra necrotic or cold damage equal
to your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier as a god¬
sworn boon. You can benefit from only one godsworn
boon as a result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Mentalist

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Ioun
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
the critical hit deals extra psychic damage equal to
your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier as a godsworn
boon. You can benefit from only one godsworn boon
as a result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Mystic

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Sehanine
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
you gain concealment until the end of your next turn
as a godsworn boon. You can benefit from only one
godsworn boon as a result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Radiant

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Pelor
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical
hit, your target takes extra radiant damage equal to
your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier as a godsworn
boon. You can benefit from only one godsworn boon
as a result of any given critical hit.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Avenger

Godsworn Sidestep

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Corellon
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
you can teleport 5 squares to any unoccupied square
adjacent to your oath of enmity target as a godsworn
boon. You can benefit from only one godsworn boon
as a result of any given critical hit.

Godsworn Tidedancer

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Melora
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Religion
checks. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit,
you can shift a number of squares equal to your Dex¬
terity or Intelligence modifier as a godsworn boon.
You can benefit from only one godsworn boon as a
result of any given critical hit.

GODSWORN
ENCOUNTER POWERS
AT HIGHER LEVELS

If you’re not so keen on taking one of these
encounter powers at 3rd level, they’re all easily
upgraded to the paragon or epic tiers.

For the paragon tier, add IdIO to the heroic-tier
power’s damage (for a total of 3d10 + Wisdom
modifier). This makes it a level 13 power.

For the epic tier, add 2d10 to the heroic-tier
power’s damage (for a total of 4d10 + Wisdom
modifier). This makes it a level 23 power.

Avenger Powers

Avengers who become godsworn nemeses are granted
the opportunity to focus the divine wrath of their spe¬
cific deities.

Encounter Attack Powers

Alacritous Assault Avenger Attack 3

The July of your god’s presence sweeps through your allies as
well, causing them to gain better battlefield position.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Alacrity

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: Each ally adjacent to you can shift 1 square as a free

Chill of Winter’s Bite Avenger Attack 3

Even as your foe falters momentarily from the power of your
attack, an ally receives the blessing of your deity on his or her

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Necrotic, Radiant
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Fatalist
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant or necrotic damage.
Effect: One ally you can see deals extra necrotic damage equal
to your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier on his or her next
melee attack against the target before the end of your next

The power of your deity damages foe, and then flows into an
ally, who then uses it to make surer attacks.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Assault

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: One ally you can see gains a +1 power bonus to attack
rolls until the start of your next turn.

Lunar Strike Avenger Attack 3

The grace of your deity provides your foe with blessed pain
while giving an ally a chance to disappear from sight.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Illusion, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Mystic

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: One ally you can see becomes invisible until the start of
your next turn or until he or she hits or misses.

The pain of your attack is not contained within your chosen
foe; it resonates within an ally’s foe with each strike your ally
makes.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Psychic, Radiant
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Mentalist
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier psychic or radiant damage.
Effect: One ally you can see deals extra psychic damage equal
to your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier on his or her next
melee attack against the target before the end of your next

2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Avenger

Seal of Scales Avenger Attack 3

Your god’s full jury not only smites your foe but also grants an
ally additional protection.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Defender

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: One ally you can see gains a +2 power bonus to all
defenses until the start of your next turn.

Strike of the Forgehammer Avenger Attack 3

As your foe takes damage from your attack, your deity’s power
flows through an ally and bolsters him or her against deleteri¬
ous effects.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Bulwark

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: One ally can make a saving throw with a +2 power

Strike from the Mountaintop Avenger Attack 3

The fury of your deity finds an outlet in both your attack and
that of an ally’s, making both enemies feel as ifKord pounded
them into the ground.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Avalanche

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: One ally you can see gains a +2 power bonus to damage
rolls until the start of your next turn.

As you attack your foe, divine energy flows from you to an ally,
enabling him or her to also bring divine retribution upon an
enemy.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Force, Implement, Radiant
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Sidestep
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant or force damage.
Effect: One ally you can see deals extra force damage equal
to your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier on his or her
next melee attack against the target before the end of

Sun of the Heavens Strike Avenger Attack 3

Even as divine power flows from your attack into your foe, your
ally receives a measure of it for an attack of his or her own.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Radiant

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: One ally you can see deals extra radiant damage equal
to your Dexterity or Intelligence modifier on his or her next
melee attack against the target before the end of your next

Tida[ Shift Avenger Attack 3

Not only does your deity’s power fall upon your foe as you at¬
tack it, but it also moves an ally into a position to engage your
chosen enemy.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Tidedancer

Target: One creature

Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d10 + Wisdom modifier radiant damage.

Effect: You slide one ally you can see 5 squares to a square
adjacent to the target.

Utility Powers

Breath of Creation Avenger Utility 6

Moradin breathes new life into you to help your injuries heal
and make good on the oath you swore.

Daily ♦ Divine, Healing
Minor Action Personal
Prerequisite: Godsworn Bulwark

Effect: You regain hit points equal to your healing surge value.

You blur into motion, moving faster than the eye can follow.

Encounter ♦ Divine
Move Action Personal
Prerequisite: Godsworn Alacrity

Effect: If you are slowed, immobilized, or restrained, the condi¬
tion ends. You shift a number of squares equal to your speed.

Your faith in the Battle Lord gives you the strengthyou need to
shrug off your enemy’s attacks.

Encounter ♦ Divine

Immediate Interrupt Personal

Prerequisite: Godsworn Avalanche

Trigger: You are dazed, stunned, or weakened by an attack
Effect: Make a saving throw. If the saving throw succeeds, you
end the triggering effect.

■HBWmWWWHI—

A common enemy can restore a community’s bonds, and your
successful attack helps an ally to share your purpose

Encounter ♦ Divine, Radiant
Free Action Close burst 5
Prerequisite: Godsworn Assault

Trigger: You hit your oath of enmity target with a melee attack
Target: One ally in burst

Effect: The target gains a +2 power bonus to its next attack roll
against the target before the end of your next turn. If that
attack hits, it deals an extra 5 radiant damage.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Avenger

in hide from Pelor’s shining light.

Daily ♦ Divine, Zone
Minor Action Close blast 5
Prerequisite: Godsworn Radiant

Effect: The blast creates a zone of bright light that lasts until
the end of the encounter. Creatures do not benefit from
concealment or total concealment while within the zone.

Platinum Pride Avenger Utility 6

When a treacherous foe would strike you, the Platinum Dragons
shielding wing is there to protect you from harm.

Daily ♦ Divine, Stance

Standard Action Personal

Prerequisite: Godsworn Defender

Effect: Until the stance ends, you gain a +2 power bonus to all
defenses against attacks from enemies that aren’t your oath
of enmity targets.

You perceive danger before it materializes and react accordingly.

Encounter ♦ Divine

Immediate Interrupt Personal

Prerequisite: Godsworn Mentalist

Trigger: An enemy that is not your oath of enmity target hits
you with an attack

Effect: You gain a +4 power bonus to all defenses against the
triggering attack.

Shroud of Winter Avenger Utility 6

Your aspect changes to assume a skeletal appearance cloaked
in shadow.

Encounter ♦ Divine
Minor Action Personal
Prerequisite: Godsworn Fatalist

Effect: You gain concealment and become insubstantial until
the end of your next turn.

Daily Attack Powers

Your perfect strike invites Corellon’s blessing upon you.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Teleportation
Free Action Personal
Prerequisite: Godsworn Sidestep

Trigger: You make a melee attack against your oath of enmity
target and roll the same number on each die of the attack roll
Effect: If the attack hits and deals damage, it deals 5 extra force
or radiant damage. If the attack misses, you can teleport to
any unoccupied square adjacent to the target.

Veit of the Moon

Avenger Utility 6 1

The air shimmers as if the sun
flash, you are gone.

set upon your shoulders. In a

Encounter ♦ Divine, Illusion
Minor Action Personal
Prerequisite: Godsworn Mystic

Effect: You become invisible until the end of your next turn or
until you hit or miss.

Wrath of the Sea _Avenger Utility 6

Your pain awakens nature’s fury withinyou, giving you the
spirit to see the battle through to its conclusion.

Daily ♦ Divine, Stance
Immediate Reaction Personal

Prerequisite: Godsworn Tidedancer
Trigger: You are bloodied by an attack

Effect: Until the stance ends, your avenger encounter and daily
attack powers deal extra damage equal to your Wisdom
modifier.

Filled with righteous indignation, your attack damages your
foe and lends swiftness to your movement.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement
Standard Action Ranged S

Prerequisite: Godsworn Alacrity
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You gain a +3 power bonus to speed until the end of
the encounter.

The power of your god wounds your enemy and bolsters your
allies’ defenses.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Defender
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit your
oath of enmity target with an avenger encounter attack
power, each ally that can see you gains a +1 power bonus
to all defenses until the start of your next turn.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Avenger

1 Corellon’s Evasion Avenger Attack 9 H

Corellon graces you with the ability to move around the field of
combat quickly after you hit your foe.

The power ofloun resonates within the mind of your foe, caus¬
ing it to quiver with pain.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Teleportation
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Sidestep
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit your
oath of enmity target with an avenger encounter attack
power, you can teleport 3 squares.

■mim

The divine power of your deity damages your foe and makes it
easier for others to strike your chosen enemy.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Assault
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit your
oath of enmity target with an avenger encounter attack
power, one ally you can see gains a +2 power bonus to
attack rolls against your target until the start of your next

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Psychic
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Mentalist
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, your avenger encounter
attack powers deal 3 extra psychic damage against your
oath of enmity target. Increase the extra damage to 6 at
19th level, and 9 at 29th level.

The thunderous might of Kurd flows throughyou and into
your foe with each successful attack you make.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Lightning, Thunder
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Avalanche
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d1 2 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, your avenger encounter
attack powers deal 3 extra lightning and thunder damage
against your oath of enmity target. Increase the extra dam¬
age to 6 at 19th level, and 9 at 29th level.

Melora’s Inexorable Tide

The power ofMelora accompanies your attack, causing a
nearly enemy pain.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Tidedancer
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit your
oath of enmity target with an avenger encounter attack
power, one other enemy adjacent to you takes radiant dam¬
age equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Moradin’s Stalwart Shield Avenger Attack 9

The strength ofMoradin not only wounds your foe but also
provides you with inner resources to protect you from damage.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Bulwark
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d1 2 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit your
oath of enmity target with an avenger encounter attack
power, you gain resistance to damage equal to your Wis¬
dom modifier until the start of your next turn.

y 2010 ] DRAGON 384

K^)

Class Acts.- Avenger

Pelor’s Divine Fire Avenger Attack 9

The light of Pelor fills you and wounds your enemy.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Radiant
Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Radiant
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, your avenger encounter
attack powers deal 3 extra radiant damage against your
oath of enmity target. Increase the extra damage to 6 at
19th level, and 9 at 29th level.

1 Sehanine’s Misdirection

Avenger Attack 9

Sehanine provides you with the power t<
sight of your foe when you wound it.

o dance in and out of

Daily ♦ Divine, Illusion, Implement

Standard Action Ranged 5

Prerequisite: Godsworn Mystic
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit your
oath of enmity target with an avenger encounter attack
power, you become invisible until the start of your next

The Raven Queen’s Decay Avenger Attack 9

Your de ity’s power finds a place within the body of your foe,
causing it bone-deep pain.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Necrotic
Standard Action Ranged S

Prerequisite: Godsworn Fatalist
Target: One creature
Attack: Wisdom vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d12 + Wisdom modifier damage, and you pull the target
4 squares to a square adjacent to you.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, your avenger encounter
attack powers deal 3 extra necrotic damage against your
oath of enmity target. Increase the extra damage to 6 at
19th level, and 9 at 29th level.

turn. C?

About the Author

Robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer
whose more recent work can be found in Martial Power™
2, Draconomicon “ 2, and Primal Power™. Robert lives in
Tennessee.

GODSWORN DAILY POWERS
AT HIGHER LEVELS

If you’re not so keen on taking one of these daily
powers at 9th level, they’re all easily upgraded
to the paragon or epic tiers.

For the paragon tier, add 2d12 to the heroic-tier
power’s damage (for a total of 4d12 + Wisdom
modifier). This makes it a level 19 power.

For the epic tier, add 3d12 to the heroic-tier
power’s damage (for a total of 5d12 + Wisdom
modifier). This makes it a level 29 power.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts: CLERIC

Battle-priests of war
require twice the training,
determination, and grit of
any conventional soldier.

By Mutt James ♦ Illustration by Cynthia Sheppard

The lord of battle, Kord, is a stalwart and brave
warrior-god who seeks victory even in the clutches of
defeat. His loyal followers train for countless hours
to be the best on any terrain and against any enemy;
they must be prepared to sacrifice all in the name of
competition and victory.

A smaller gathering of his followers is more zealous
than the rest and takes great pride in bringing defeat to
even the most skilled of opposition. This group, called
the Covenant of War, is both feared and respected, and
it often finds victory at the quivering surrender of their
foes before the battle has even begun. They train at all
hours of the day, utilizing every last drop of sunlight
to perfect their deadly maneuvers and to seek divine
guidance from their patron. Less concerned with the
traditional teachings of divine magic, these battle
priests utilize the power of their deity to deliver devas¬
tating attacks on their unfortunate foes.

The organization consists of a military-type hierar¬
chy that emphasizes merit and accomplishment over
hard talk and empty promises. It includes members of
other classes as well, such as paladins, avengers, fight¬
ers, bards, and rogues. Only one rule exists within
this organization: Come with all you have or do not
come at all. They do not accept anything less, and they
uphold standards of strength and ability at all costs.

Clerics who wish to learn more of the battlelord’s
Covenant of War are encouraged to seek out sacred
temples located throughout the known world. Within
each one resides a secret gladiatorial testing ground
where only the strong survive. Failure in these gladi¬
atorial contests means permanent expulsion from the
Covenant’s place of worship and denial at any attempt
for readmission.

Level 1 Daily Prayer

Inflict Light Wounds Cleric Attack 1

Calling upon the wrath of your deity, you wrack your enemy
with pain.

Daily ♦ Divine, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is weak¬
ened (save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and the target is weakened until the end of

Level 2 Utility Prayer

The power of your faith siphons life out of you and bolsters
your ally with divine protection.

Daily ♦ Divine

Minor Action Melee touch

Target: One ally

Effect: You take damage equal to your surge value. This dam¬
age cannot be reduced by any means. The target gains tem¬
porary hit points equal to twice that value.

Level 5 Daily Prayer

Augment of War Cleric Attack 5

Your deity answers your call and assaults your foe with divine
energy.

Daily 4 Divine

Minor Action Melee touch

Target: One ally’s weapon

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, all attacks made with
this weapon deal extra damage equal to your Strength
modifier. When the weapon hits an enemy, that enemy
grants combat advantage until the start of the wielder’s

Febn

irylOlO | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Cleric

Level 9 Daily Prayer

Level 16 Utility Prayer

Level 27 Encounter Prayer

Divine Surge Cleric Attack 9

Calling upon the strength of your deity, you send waves of
divine power through your foe, distracting it momentarily.

Daily ♦ Divine, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1

Target: Each enemy in burst you can see
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target grants
combat advantage (save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and target grants combat advantage until
the end of your next turn.

Eternal Barrier Cleric Utility 16

Your divine presence removes obstacles in your way.

At-Will ♦ Conjuration, Divine, Zone
Standard Action Close burst 2

Effect: The burst creates a zone centered on you that lasts until
the end of your next turn. While within the zone, you and
each ally ignore difficult terrain.

Sustain Minor: The zone persists.

Level 19 Daily Prayer

Cleric Attack 27

As you strike with your weapon, your deity sends forth a decree
that resonates across the battlefield and aids your allies.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 4[W] + Strength modifier damage, and each ally within 5
squares of you can make a saving throw against one effect
that a save can end.

Level 10 Utility Prayer

Transcendent Advisor Cleric Utility 10

A servant of your deity appears before you.

Daily ♦ Conjuration, Divine
Standard Action Ranged 5

Effect: You conjure an advisor from your deity that appears in
an unoccupied square within range. The advisor occupies
1 square and lasts until the end of your next turn. Allies
within 5 squares of the counsel can roll twice on all knowl¬
edge checks and keep either result.

Sustain Minor: The effect persists.

Level 13 Encounter Prayer

Invocation of War Cleric Attack 13

The wounds you create embolden your allies to achieve
greatness.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier, and the next attack that hits the
target before the end of your next turn deals extra damage
equal to your Strength modifier, or Strength + Wisdom
modifier if you are wielding a two-handed weapon.

Greater Augment of War Cleric Attack 19

The power of your deity flows through an ally’s weapon and
creates lethargy within any foe the weapon strikes.

Daily ♦ Divine

Minor Action Melee touch

Target: One ally's weapon

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, all attacks made with
this weapon deal extra damage equal to 5 + your Strength
modifier. When the weapon hits an enemy, that enemy is
slowed and grants combat advantage to you until the start
of the wielder’s next turn.

Level 25 Daily Prayer

Divine Reaping Cleric Attack 25

The power of your deity works its way through each foe you
strike, causing it to slacken and falter.

Daily ♦ Divine, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1

Target: Each enemy you can see in burst
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is weak¬
ened (save ends).

Miss: Half damage, and the target is weakened until the end of

New Magic Weapon

1 Blood Maul

Level 7+ 1

This maul’s dark red stains nev

er seem to wash off.

Lvl 7 +2 2,600 gp Lvl 22 +5 325,000 gp

Lvl 12 +3 13,000 gp Lvl 27 +6 1,625,000 gp

Lvl 17 +4 65,000 gp

Weapon: Mace, hammer
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1 d6 per plus, or +1 dl 0 per plus against bloodied
enemies

Power (Daily): Free Action. Trigger: You bloody an enemy with
an attack that is not a critical hit with this weapon. Effect
You deal extra damage to the target equal to your bonus
critical damage with this weapon. O

About the Author

Matt James is a disabled combat veteran, having earned
a Bronze Star and Purple Heart from his recent service in
the United States Army. When not freelance writing for
Dungeons & Dragons®, he works on developing his website
(http://www.loremaster.org). Follow Matt online at www.
twitter.com/matt_james_fr.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts:

Warlord

By Robert J. Schwalb

Illustration by Chad King

Keys to the Battleeield

“Lookfriend, we ain’t got no fancy spells and there ain’t no
gods lookin’ outfer the likes of you and me. We got these
weapons, but we got something more too. We got each
other. You get my back and I swear on my father’s beard
I’ll get yours.”

-Borst, dwarf warlord

Martial characters might engage the enemy in wildly
different ways. Some rely on shadows to skulk about
and plant their daggers where least expected, and
others fling themselves headlong into the enemies’
teeth. However, what unites them all is an uncommon
understanding of battlefield tactics. Such characters
don’t have grimoires dripping with complex arcane
formulas or a god’s hand resting on their shoulder,
but what they do have is grit, discipline, and cold,
hard steel.

No one knows this better than the warlord.
Trained in a variety of fighting techniques tested on
countless battlefields through history’s long march,
warlords draw from their vast experience to find
unexpected solutions to the thorniest problems.

This said, warlords approach battlefield tactics from
several different angles. One might hang back to
pepper the enemy with arrows, while another leaps

to the front, guiding allies’ attacks through inspir¬
ing advice, tactical acumen, or sheer bravado. These
approaches affect how a warlord leads and they
shed light on the methods that warlord might use to
defeat the enemy.

Although individual interests vary a great deal
(often reflected in the warlord’s build and power
selection), even the most reckless warlord knows
when to check his or her impulse and gauge the
battlefield and the happenings unfolding there. Such
a warlord ought to adjust his or her tactics to plug
holes and respond to the changing tide, all to ensure
his or her companions can see the battle to its conclu¬
sion. A clever warlord, however, anticipates how a
battle develops and uses his or her allies to meet these
changing conditions.

New Warlord Powers

The following warlord powers speak to the war¬
lord’s dynamic approach to combat, reflecting an
awareness about his or her allies’ capabilities, their
strengths, and their weaknesses. These powers are
intended for warlords from any build to expand
their arsenal to better meet the battlefield’s myriad

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

Class Acts.- Warlord

Level 1 Encounter Exploit

Level 3 Encounter Exploits

Level 5 Daily Exploit

Invitation Warlord Attack 1

Your strike leaves the opponent swaying so that a feather’s
touch can cause it to move from its position.

Encounter M Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage. The next time an ally
hits the target before the end of your next turn, that ally
can slide the target 2 squares, shift 2 squares, or deal 4
extra damage to the target.

Level 1 Daily Exploit

Interrupting Strike Warlord Attack 3

Your weapon strikes the foe and, if it seeks to attack another,
your waiting ally can attempt an attack of his or her own first.

Encounter SI Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you mark the
target until the end of your next turn. If the target makes
an attack before the end of your next turn that does not
include you as a target, one ally adjacent to the target can
make a basic attack against it as an immediate interrupt.
If the ally's attack hits, the target takes a -2 penalty to the
attack roll.

Surging Assault Warlord Attack 5

Your powerful strike gives an ally the means to recover from
his or her injuries and rejoin the battle.

Daily M Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Each ally adjacent to you or the target can use his or her
second wind as a free action.

Level 6 Utility Exploits

Destructive Surprise Warlord Attack 1

You motivate an ally to strike true at just the right moment.

Daily SI Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Close burst 10

Target: One ally in burst

Effect: The target can make the following attack.

Free Action Melee or Ranged weapon

Effect: The ally shifts 2 squares.

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength or Dexterity modifier vs. Reflex
Hit: 3[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier.

Miss: Half damage.

Level 2 Utility Exploit

1 Martial Cascade

Warlord Utility 2 1

Your daring attack inspires a

n ally to follow your lead.

Encounter M Martial
Free Action Close burst 10
Trigger: An enemy is hit by your attack
Target: Each ally in burst who can see you
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, any target who spends
an action point to make an attack against the triggering
enemy gains a +2 power bonus to the attack roll.

Martial Doom

Warlord Attack 3 1

Your attack connects to expose a
will or daring can seize.

n opening that any ally with

Encounter SI Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target grants
combat advantage to your allies until the end of your next

Effect: Any ally that hits the target with an attack gained from
spending an action point before the end of your next turn
deals 5 extra damage to the target.

1 Back to Back

Warlord Utility 6 1

You take heart from the ally guarding yoi

ir back.

Daily SI Martial, Stance
Minor Action Personal

Effect: You assume the back to back stance. Until the stance
ends, while you are adjacent to an ally, you and the ally
gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

When your attack connects, you experience a burst of confi¬
dence your allies can share if they follow your lead.

Encounter H Healing, Martial
Free Action Personal

Trigger: You hit an enemy with a martial melee or ranged
attack

Effect: You can spend a healing surge. Until the start of your
next turn, any ally that hits the same target with an attack
gained from spending an action point can also spend a
healing surge.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- Warlord

Level 7 Encounter Exploits Level 9 Daily Exploit

Martial Excitation_ Warlord Attack 7

Your attack’s success fills your allies with the urge to push
further and fight harder.

Encounter M Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you can shift a
number of squares equal to one-half your speed.

Effect: Until the start of your next turn, whenever an ally that
can see you spends an action point, he or she can shift up
to one-half his or her speed as a free action before or after
the extra action.

Tactician’s Favor Warlord Attack 7

Your blow causes an ally’s follow-up strike to cement his or her
tactical advantage.

Encounter H Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage. The next time an ally
hits the target before the end of your next turn, he or she
gains one of the following benefits until the end of his or
her next turn: +2 power bonus to all defenses, a +1 power
bonus to attack rolls, or a +3 power bonus to damage rolls.

Coordinated Assault_ Warlord Attack 9

By coordinating your efforts, your allies deliver two devastat¬
ing attacks.

Daily M Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Close burst 10

Target: One or two allies in burst

Effect: The target can make the following attack. Each target
must attack a different creature.

Free Action Melee or Ranged weapon

Effect: The target ally can shift 3 squares.

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength or Dexterity modifier vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength or Dexterity modifier damage, and the

target falls prone.

About the Author

Robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game
designer whose more recent work is in Martial Power™ 2,
Draconomicon ” 2, and Primal Power. Robert lives in Tennessee.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.*

The Commando Warlord

By Robert J. Schwalb ♦ Illustration by Chad King

M any warlords favor a direct approach in battle, fighting from the van¬
guard as they lead the charge to smash through enemy ranks. Although
warlords might approach these aggressive methods from various direc-
tions-with some favoring skirmishing and others preferring reckless bravado-their
results are often the same. The commando warlord, however, outwits and outma-
neuvers his or her enemies by laying traps and springing ambushes to catch foes
unaware.

A commando warlord is an irregular soldier, being fast on his or her feet and
relying on guile and cunning to defeat the enemy. A commando warlord finds much
success on the front lines, but not through direct attacks, but rather by shouting com¬
mands to allies to seize openings he or she creates. A commando warlord is a team-
player and benefits most from working with defenders and strikers.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- The Commando Warlord

Level 1 Encounter Exploit

Overwhelming Force Trap Warlord Attack 1

You keep the order to spring the trap ready, allowing your
allies to spring into action on a moment’s notice.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Immediate Interrupt Close burst 3

Trigger: An ally in the burst makes a melee basic attack
Target: The triggering ally

Effect: The target uses one of his or her melee at-will attack
powers instead of making a melee basic attack. If the at¬
tack hits, the subject of the target’s attack is also dazed
until the end of the target’s next turn.

Level 1 Daily Exploit

Orchestrated Offensive Warlord Attack 1

Your strike is the only signal your allies need to put your care¬
ful plan into motion.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier damage.

Effect: Choose two different allies within 5 squares of you that
can see and hear you. Each ally can make a charge attack,
make a basic attack, or shift his or her speed as a free
action. Allies that choose to charge or make basic attacks
cannot attack the same creature or the target of this attack.

Level 2 Utility Exploit

Your strike creates an opening your ally seizes to his or her
advantage.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Free Action Personal

Trigger: You hit an enemy with a melee attack.

Target: One ally adjacent to you

Effect: The target shifts 3 squares as a free action and gains
combat advantage against the triggering enemy until the
end of your next turn.

Level 3 Encounter Exploit

Level 6 Utility Exploit

Set the Trap Warlord Attack 3

You grab the enemy’s attention with an aggressive strike to
give your allies a chance to set up their own attacks.

Encounter ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 1 [W] + Strength modifier damage.

Effect: One ally you can see can shift half his or her speed as a
free action to a square where it has cover or concealment
and make a Stealth check to become hidden. Before the
end of your next turn, that ally gains a +3 power bonus to
his or her next damage roll made against an enemy from
which he or she is hidden.

Level 5 Daily Exploit

Directed Combat Warlord Attack 5

Your strike creates the opening an ally needs to slip away,
while another ally rushes in to keep the foe pinned down.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Effect: One ally adjacent to the target shifts his or her speed as
a free action. Then, choose a different ally within S squares
of you that can see and hear you. That ally makes a charge
attack against the target.

Get Down! Warlord Utility 6

Your barked order draws attention to you long enough for a
covered or concealed ally to hide.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Minor Action Close burst 5

Target: One ally in the burst

Effect: The target can shift half his or her speed as a free action
to a square where he or she has cover or concealment and
make a Stealth check with a +5 power bonus to become
hidden.

Level 7 Encounter Exploit

Friendly Fire Warlord Attack 7

Such is your presence that you panic an enemy into acciden¬
tally hitting one of its allies.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Immediate Reaction Close burst 10

Trigger: An enemy misses you or an ally you can see with a
melee or ranged attack.

Target: The triggering enemy

Effect: The target repeats the attack as a free action against a
creature you choose within 2 squares of the target of its
original attack. The new target must still be legal for the
attack.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- The Commando Warlord

Level 9 Daily Exploit

Shift the Field Warlord Attack 9

Swinging your weapon calls your allies to strike. If the plan
works, you all adjust your positions to respond the battlefield’s
new developments.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Choose two allies within 5 squares of you that can both
see and hear you. Each ally makes a basic attack as a free
action against different creatures that are not the targets of
this attack.

Level 10 Utility Exploit

An ally’s efforts are renewed against those you oppose.

Daily ♦ Martial

Immediate Reaction Close burst 5

Trigger: An ally in the burst misses all targets with an attack
when using an action gained by spending an action point
Target: The triggering ally

Effect: The target gains 1 action point. Spending this action
point does not count against the limits on action point ex¬
penditures for this encounter. If the target does not spend
the action point before the end of the encounter, it is lost.

Level 13 Encounter Exploit

Level 17 Encounter Exploit

Blade Burst Trap Warlord Attack 13

Your careful preparations unleash a devastating trap, but you
are experienced enough to let them go should your situation
change.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Immediate Reaction Close burst 5

Trigger: An enemy in the burst hits you or an ally with an
attack.

Target: One ally adjacent to triggering enemy
Effect: The target makes a melee basic attack as a free action
against each enemy adjacent to him or her. If the attack
hits, the enemy is also dazed until the end of the target’s

Level 15 Daily Exploit

Vanishing Forces Warlord Attack 17

An aggressive attack draws attention away fromyour allies so
they can move into position while remaining unseen.

Encounter ♦ Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage, and the target is
marked by you until the end of your next turn.

Effect: Each ally within 5 squares of you that you can see shifts
his or her speed as a free action to a square with cover or
concealment and makes a Stealth check to become hidden.
Before the end of your next turn, each of those allies gains
a +5 power bonus to its next damage roll made against an
enemy from which it is hidden.

Call to Action Warlord Attack 15

A shouted command calk your allies to act, helping them to
find new reserves or driving them to strike your enemies down.
Daily ♦ Healing, Martial
Standard Action Close burst 10

Target: One, two, or three targets that can hear you in burst
Effect: Each target can choose to spend a healing surge, make
a basic attack, or make a charge attack as a free action.

Each ally that makes an attack as a result of this effect must
choose a different target and deals 1 dl 0 extra damage on
a hit.

Level 16 Utility Exploit

Pincer Formation Warlord Utility 16

Reading your enemy’s intent, you increase the pressure so it
cannot escape your grasp.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Immediate Reaction Close burst 5

Trigger: An enemy adjacent to you moves or shifts
Target: You and one ally in the burst adjacent to the
triggering enemy

Effect: The target shifts his or her speed and must end this shift
in a square adjacent to the triggering enemy.

Level 19 Daily Exploit

War Dance Warlord Attack 19

One attack from you sees each ally moving into planned posi¬
tions and striking with speed and force.

Daily H Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Each ally that can see and hear you within 5 squares of
you can shift his or her speed as a free action. Each of these
allies gains 10 temporary hit points the first time he or she
hits with an attack made before the end of your next turn.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Class Acts.- The Commando Warlord

Level 22 Utility Exploit

Sound the Retreat Warlord Utility 22

Whenyour doom casts its shadow uponyou,you sound the
retreat, compelling your allies to quit the battlefield.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Immediate Reaction Close burst 10

Trigger: You are bloodied by an attack
Target: You and each ally in burst

Effect: The target shifts a number of squares as a free action
equal to his or her speed.

Level 23 Encounter Exploit

Critical Misfire Warlord Attack 23

Whenyour enemies are victims of friendly fire, they experi¬
ence a criticalfailure in their battle plan.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Immediate Reaction Close burst 10

Trigger: An enemy misses you or an ally you can see with a
melee or ranged attack
Target: The triggering enemy

Effect: The target repeats the attack as a free action against a
creature you choose within 2 squares of the original target
of the triggering attack and deals 2d10 extra damage on a
hit. The new target must still be legal for the attack.

Level 25 Daily Exploit

Warlord’s Fury Warlord Attack 25

You hurl the enemies back onto your allies’waiting weapons.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Close burst 1

Target: Each enemy in burst

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage and you slide the target
5 squares. The target takes 1 [W] extra damage for each of
your allies adjacent to it at the end of the slide.

Miss: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage and you slide the
target 2 squares.

Level 27 Encounter Exploit

A Plan Comes Together Warlord Attack 27

You read the enemy’s intent and spring your trap. Your allies
bring the unsuspecting foe down.

Encounter ♦ Martial

Free Action Close burst 10

Trigger: An enemy in burst starts its turn
Primary Target: One ally adjacent to the triggering enemy
Secondary Target: One ally in the burst
Effect: The primary target makes a melee basic attack as a free
action against the triggering enemy; on a hit, the target is
dazed. Then, the secondary target makes a charge attack
as a free action against the triggering enemy; on a hit, the
target falls prone.

About the Author

Robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer
whose more recent work can be found in the Player’s
Handbook® 3, Martial Power™ 2, and Draconomicon™ 2:
Metallic Dragons.

Level 29 Daily Exploit

Victory by Design Warlord Attack 29

Leading with an attack announces the start of your cunning
stratagem.

Daily ♦ Martial, Weapon

Standard Action Melee weapon

Target: One creature

Attack: Strength vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.

Effect: Choose up to four allies within 10 squares of you that
can see and hear you. Each ally can either make a charge
attack, make a basic attack, or shift up to his or her speed
as a free action. The allies that choose to charge or make
basic attacks deal 1 dl 0 extra damage on a hit and cannot
attack the same target or the target of this attack.

2010 | DRAGON 384

Winning Races.-

CjMOTV4 *PS ByBrianYablon

I ^ * V % v fci -r Illustration by Tyler Walpole

N ormally viewed as quiet and shy, gnomes live in
communities nestled within the deep forests of the
Feywild and the world, and they strive to be overlooked
by danger as a matter of survival. However, although gnomes
have the often well-deserved reputation of wanting to avoid conflict,
they are by no means pacifists. Gnomes know that confrontation is
inevitable no matter how well a community hides itself-and sometimes,
taking the fight to an enemy first is the best defense possible.

Whether in the world-where goblins, kobolds, and other foul creatures threaten
their warrens-or in the Feywild-where eldritch beasts, carnivorous plants, and
malicious fey threaten them-gnomes have always required ways of combating and
dealing with their deadly and often more numerous enemies. As a result, they have
developed many specialized fighting techniques that take advantage of their talents
for illusion, stealth, the fey magic coursing in their veins, and even their diminutive
size, and they turn these techniques against their foes to devastating effect.

Included in this article are two new paragon paths for gnome defenders: one each
for the paladin and swordmage. The gnome nightcloak is a stealthy paladin who is
as at home striking from the shadows as fighting evil in the light of day. The
phantasm guard merges the gnomes’ natural affinity for illusions with their
swordmage training to produce a unique arcane tradition.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

BACKGROUNDS

The following backgrounds are suitable for any
gnome character.

Brawny Gnome

You’ve always been stronger than your fellow gnomes,
and because of that you didn’t fit in fully with the
other youths. As your friends studied the magical arts
and illusions, you were more content to hunt, do physi¬
cal labor, or drill with the militia. Do you prefer being
straightforward and forceful over crafty and quiet?
Maybe you seek to prove yourself to members of the
larger races, challenging them to arm wrestling and
other feats of strength or endurance. Or you might be
content to let opponents underestimate you, then sur¬
prise them later with unexpected bursts of power.

Associated Skills: Athletics, Endurance

Urban Gnome

You grew up in a large town or city that had large
buildings and many people. You’re at home in the
bustle of town life, and dodging through crowds is
second nature. Perhaps you dress in bright and flashy
clothing to stand out among the throngs (and to avoid
falling underfoot). Or do you cultivate a quieter exis¬
tence, where you stay out of sight and out of mind so
that you can be left to your own devices in the packed
streets? Did you ever long for the hidden forest home
you never knew, nestled deep among the roots of
massive trees? Or do you feel somehow guilty for not
being terribly interested in the traditional home of fey
creatures? Do gnomes from the forests find you an
oddity when they meet you?

Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Streetwise

Winning Races.- Gnomes

the interests of gnomes and other goodly races by
rooting up the seeds of evil in the darkness that shel-

Some might question your covert methods,
demanding justice be carried out in full view of all;
even considering stealth to be tantamount to cow¬
ardice. But you know it’s best to fight darkness with
darkness so that you can preserve the overall peace
of the innocents. And besides-nobody will ever see
you.

By day you might cultivate an image of the friendly
gnome knight in shining armor, but when darkness
falls, you assume a sterner demeanor, silently and
ruthlessly hunting down corruption and villainy
before sunrise, when you return to your gregarious
ways with none the wiser.

Gnome Nightcloak Path Features

GNOME NIGHTCLOAK

“Striking down evil from the darkness, and returning
silently before the light of dawn.”

Prerequisite: Gnome, paladin, trained in Stealth

Blending divine magic with your race’s gifts for
stealth and cunning, you follow the path of the night-
cloak. You bend the shadows that can hide villainy
to your own purposes. You seek to protect yourself
and your allies from threats, and you seek out evil
where it hides under cover of darkness-eliminating
it silently, before it can erupt forth to threaten the
world of light.

An armored defender of your faith, you none¬
theless have learned to become a silent predator,
shrouded by protective shadowstuff and able to slip
in and strike where foes are least prepared. You can
step through the boundary between light and dark
to cover distance quickly, or briefly disappear from
view to find a new position or to make a surprise
attack.

Originally created by adherents of Sehanine
for missions requiring some degree of subtlety, the
nightcloak tradition has since spread to gnomes of
all faiths. Indeed, with the gnome value for secrecy
and preservation of outward peace, some would
say a group of warriors such as the nightcloaks was
inevitability. Many nightcloaks defend hidden gnome
communities from danger, venturing out to sabotage
or eliminate growing threats without leaving a trace
of their presence. Still others travel the world, alone
or in like-minded bands of heroes, quietly protecting

Veil of Darkness (11th level): You can use your
Charisma modifier instead of your Dexterity modi¬
fier when making Stealth checks. In addition, when
you use your fade away racial power, you or one ally
adjacent to you gains resistance to all damage equal
to your Charisma modifier until the end of your next
turn.

Leaping Shadow Action (11th level): When you
spend an action point to take an extra action, you can
teleport your speed before or after the action.

From the Shadows (16th level): Once per round
when you hit a target marked by you that is also
granting combat advantage to you, you may deal 2d6
extra damage to that target.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Winning Races.- Gnomes

Gnome Nightcloak Prayers

Shadowstride Gnome Nightcloak Attack 11
Rebuke

As your foe sets up to attack a nearby ally, you appear next to
it and drive it back.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Teleportation, Weapon
Immediate Reaction Melee weapon

Trigger; A creature you can see hits or misses an ally
Effect: You teleport a number of squares equal to your speed
and make the following melee attack.

Target: The triggering creature
Attack: Charisma vs. AC

Hit: 2[W] + Charisma modifier damage, and you push the tar¬
get 1 square. The target is subject to your divine sanction
until the end of your next turn.

Darkness swirls around your ally, who then seems to vanish
like a wisp of smoke.

Encounter ♦ Divine, Illusion

Minor Action Close burst 5

Target: You or one ally in burst

Effect: The target becomes invisible until the start of its next
turn or until it attacks.

Tumultuous

Shadowflow

Gnome Nightcloak 1
Attack 20 1

Shadow flows around your
after your attack.

blade then surges over your foe

Daily -4 Divine, Weapon
Standard Action

Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. AC

Melee weapon

Hit: 4[W] + Charisma modifier damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, the target takes a -2
penalty to all attacks and cannot benefit from concealment.

PHANTASM GUARD

“You think you’ve faced your worst nightmare? Sorry, that’s
coming up next.”

Prerequisite: Gnome, swordmage

Gnomes are known for their prowess with illusions,
but many outsiders believe such magic is employed
merely for hiding and deception. To the gnomes,
though, illusions are much more. They serve as a
great equalizer, which they use to attack as well as
protect. They can assault the minds of foes directly
using well-crafted figments and phantasmal percep¬
tions, which are effective regardless of the physical
attributes of those involved.

Your race’s natural talent for illusions combines
with carefully honed swordmage techniques, creating
the path of the phantasm guard. Using your magic,
you assail the minds of your foes, and punish those
who seek to harm your companions by revealing to
them glimpses of their worst nightmares and disguis¬
ing the true nature of threats.

Phantasm guards are often outwardly charming
and compassionate gnomes, expressing a keen under¬
standing of and sympathy for their fellow beings.

As one, you act as a trustworthy confidant who is
concerned with the plights of others. Frequently
interested with exploring the meaning of “truth,”
you might engage in philosophical discussions with
others to pass the time. However, the purpose of such
kindness is just as often more cynical: the goal being
to gain and exploit knowledge of potential adversar¬
ies so that you can better and more completely defeat
your adversaries’ minds if and when the time comes.

Phantasm Guard Path Features

Shadowed Aegis (Level 11): Your allies that have
concealment from enemies marked by you instead
have total concealment-

illusory Action (11th level): When you spend
an action point to take an extra action, you regain the
use of your fade away power.

Insidious Mind (16th level): When you hit with
an attack with the psychic keyword, you gain a +2
bonus to Will until the end of your next turn.

Wave of Dread Phantasm Guard Attack 11

With a wave of your sword, a cloud of ghostly hands and wail¬
ing heads swarms out over your enemies, chilling them to the

Encounter ♦ Arcane, Fear, Illusion, Implement, Psychic
Standard Action Close blast 3

Target: Each enemy in blast
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will

Hit: 2d6 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, and the tar¬
get is dazed until the end of your next turn.

Nightmare Phantasm Guard Utility 12 1

Landscape §

The world darkens and warps. Bushes and trees sei
at your enemies, and the earth melts and rises up t
their feet

em to cling
o engulf

Daily ♦ Arcane, Illusion, Zone

Standard Action Close burst 3

Effect: The burst creates a zone of illusory nightm

are terrain

that lasts until the end of the encounter. Enemies treat
squares within the zone as difficult terrain, and allies within
the zone gain concealment.

vary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

Winning Races.- Gnomes

Illusory Host Phantasm Guard Attack 20

A horde of ghostly figures appears around you to act at your
command, menacing your enemies with afield of blades and

Daily ♦ Arcane, Implement, Illusion, Psychic, Zone
Standard Action Close burst 2

Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will

Hit: 3d8 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, and you mark
the target until the end of your next turn.

Effect: The burst creates a zone of ghostly warriors that lasts
until the end of the encounter. Enemies within the zone
grant combat advantage, and you can make the following
at-will attack:

Opportunity Action

Trigger: An enemy in the zone shifts or makes an attack
that does not include you as a target.

Target: The triggering enemy
Attack: Intelligence vs. Will

Hit: 1 dl 0 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, and you
mark the target until the end of its next turn.

HEROIC TIER FEATS

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
any level who meets the prerequisites.

About the Author

Brian Yablon is a fan of all the things in D&D that come in
small packages but pack a big punch, but especially the fierce
gnomes. This is his first contribution to Dragon.

Armored Warrenguard

Prerequisite: Gnome

Benefit: You ignore the speed penalty normally
incurred by chainmail and scale armor. In addition,
you gain a +1 bonus to AC against attacks from Large
or larger enemies.

Distracting Challenge

Prerequisite: Gnome, paladin, Divine Challenge
class feature

Benefit: When a target takes damage from your
Divine Challenge, it grants combat advantage until
the start of its next turn.

Enshrouding Touch

Prerequisite: Gnome, paladin, lay on hands or vir¬
tue’s touch power

Benefit: Each ally targeted by your lay on hands or
virtue’s touch power gains concealment until the end
of his or her next turn.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Winning Races.-

WINTERKIN ELADRIN

By Robert J. Schwalb

Illustration by Tyler Walpole

O ne might mistake the lands ruled by an archfey as being
a nation, much like a mortal king might claim dominion
over a region in the middle world. Similarities exist, but the
archfey’s authority is both more and less. Archfey have little interest in
interfering with their subjects’ lives, and thus do not place expectations
on their subjects or concoct complex laws. They leave the fey people
to abide by the ancient customs that have always informed life in this
unruly plane. The archfey’s presence permeates the landscape and
its inhabitants, altering them to reflect its nature. Anyone who lives
under an archfey’s influence for long tends to acquire certain traits
and characteristics that set them apart from fey inhabiting other
realms in the Feywild.

Among those touched by the archfey and their realms are the winterkin.
Cousins to the eladrin found throughout the Summer Lands and on its
borders, they retreated to the Winter Lands following the Kinstrife Wars that
led to the Sundering. In living apart from other eladrin, the winterkin were
changed by their proximity to the Winter Fey, awakening new abilities and new
powers from the archfey who rule these lands. Differences aside, the winterkin
remain eladrin and share many of the same attitudes and beliefs upheld in the
shining cities to the south.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Winning Races.- Winterkin Eladrin

Physical Qualities

The winterkin share many traits with other eladrin,
but centuries spent living alongside the winter fey
have left an indelible mark. Winterkin have lighter
skin tones, ranging from pale blue to stark white. Hair
coloring is equally light, with silver being the domi¬
nant color. Albinism is common to the winterkin, and
eye color ranges from blood red to ice blue. Winterkin
have almost gaunt frames. Still, they are a beautiful
people, possessed of uncommon grace and elegance.

Playing a
Winterkin Eladrin

The winterkin have strong bonds with the Feywild
and rarely emerge from their sparkling realms to ven¬
ture to other lands let alone the natural world. Living
in shining citadels raised along the Cold Lands’
wintry borders, the winterkin watch the distant north
for trouble and protect their territories from attack by
their ancient enemies, the fomorians. These fortresses
are more than strongholds; they are cities, replete
with glittering towers and delicate bridges, and suf¬
fused with the Feywild’s wild magic. Only rarely do
these bastions drift between worlds, and during these
uncommon events the winterkin find their way into
the mortal world.

Cultural and geographical distance separates the
winterkin from their eladrin cousins. Where the
eladrin are content to wile away their days reflect¬
ing on the past and future in the comforts afforded
by their splendid cities, the winterkin struggle to
survive. They must contend with the punishing
storms blowing down from the frozen wastes, coax
their crops from rocky soil, and preserve what few

resources they have for the next generation to follow.
Winterkin are a serious people, grounded firmly in
the present and without the fanciful flights that grip
other fey peoples.

Winterkin are not above raiding and they fre¬
quently mount forays into the Feydark to strike at
fomorian strongholds or venture into the warmer
lands to plunder the softer lands for their bounty.
Their warlike nature might arise from necessity, but
the winterkin count few friends in the Feywild.

Like all eladrin, the winterkin see Corellon as
their maker, but many feel the Lord of Magic has
abandoned them, leaving them to fend for themselves
in the unforgiving wilderness. As a result, other gods
have come to prominence among the winterkin.
Melora is popular among the warriors, but even
her influence cannot compare to the presence and
respect the Raven Queen enjoys.

Winterkin Eladrin Characteristics: Alien, cold,
intense, melancholic, menacing, reflective

Winterkin Backgrounds

A winterkin eladrin has access to the following back¬
ground elements.

Bringers of Spring: The Pale Prince, the Lord
of the Longest Night, is chief among those enemies
arrayed against the winterkin. An exploitative power,
consumed by evil, this archfey tests the winterkin
by sending agents forth to infiltrate the border for¬
tresses and turn the winterkin toward his purpose.

To combat the Pale Prince’s growing threat, many
warriors join a loose coalition named the Bringers
of Spring, and they make it their life’s work to strike

against the archfey’s forces, root out their infiltra¬
tors, and oppose the archfey at all fronts. You were
a Bringer of Spring and fought against the archfey’s
forces. How did this service end? Were you a lone
survivor or did you break from the society for another
reason? How do you see these warriors now?
Associated Skills: Arcana, History
White Riders: The Winter Lands are short
on resources and those living in them must range
beyond their borders to gather the supplies they need
to survive. Called the white riders for their gleam¬
ing armor and the winter wolves they ride, the riders
have a ferocity that fey peoples across the lands fear.
You were a raider and innocent blood stains your
hands. Why were you chosen to become a white
rider? Whom did you raid? What experiences haunt
you? If none, why did you leave the white riders?
Associated Skills: Intimidate, Nature
Wintertouched: The Pale Prince looms large in
the Winter Lands, and while not the true sovereign
of the Winter Court, his power grows. Many fear he
will claim the entire court and all the winter fey as
his own. Those who come into his service are called
the wintertouched, because they are his thralls. For
a time, you served the Lord of the Longest Night, but
you somehow threw off his bonds. What drew you
into his service? What missions did you undertake?
Why did you quit? Did a single event lead to this deci¬
sion? If so, what was it?

Associated Skills: Arcana, Stealth

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Winning Races.- Winterkin Eladrin

Bralani Wintersoul

“I am the winter storm, the screaming blizzard, and the
blinding snow.”

Prerequisite: Eladrin

Nobility to the eladrin people is more than status—it
is an investiture of power granted by the archfey in
exchange for binding oaths and devotion. The eladrin
refer to their nobles by many titles, and one traveling
in their circles is bound to encounter coure, novier,
firre, and others. Each title reflects a particular pact
and the magical power gained as a result. The bralani
are eladrin nobles who bind themselves to those arch¬
fey associated with nature, the seasons, and storms.
The power they wield allows them to harness ele¬
ments and make them their own.

You are a noble eladrin, having earned your
greater standing through a pact made with the
Winter Court. While the Winter Court expects you
to serve it, the archfey rarely call in their debts. Thus
you are free to pursue your own agenda as long as
it is not at odds with your patron. You can harness
winter’s power, weaving its wild magical energy into
devastating attacks. Your connection to winter trig¬
gers other changes. Your skin becomes cold to the
touch, your features assume a blue hue, and the air
around you holds winter’s chill.

Bralani Wintersoul Path Features

Winter’s Touch (11th level): When a cold attack
hits you, your melee and ranged attacks deal extra
cold damage equal to your Dexterity modifier or your
Intelligence modifier until the end of your next turn.

Wintersoul Flurry Action (11th level): When
you spend an action point to make an attack, you
create a zone of flurrying snow in a close burst 5 that
lasts until the end of your next turn. Squares in the
zone are difficult terrain and lightly obscured for
enemies.

Icy Presence (16th level): Any enemy that starts
its turn in a square adjacent to you is slowed until the
end of its turn.

Bralani Wintersoul Powers

Kiss Bralani Wintersoul 11

Snow flies and solidifies around your opponent, binding it in a
frigid embrace.

Encounter ♦ Cold

Standard Action Ranged 5

Target: One creature

Attack: Your highest ability modifier + 6 vs. Fortitude
Level 21: Your highest ability modifier + 9 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1 dl 0 + your highest ability modifier cold damage, and the
target is immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Aftereffect: The target takes S cold damage and is slowed until
the end of your next turn.

Snowfall Bralani Wintersoul 12

The enemy’s attack causes you to fly apart in a cloud of swirl¬
ing snow.

Encounter ♦ Zone

Immediate Reaction Close burst 2

Trigger: You are damaged by an attack
Effect: The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of
your next turn. Squares in the zone are lightly obscured.
While you are in the zone, you have concealment and
insubstantial.

rd Blast

Bralani Wintersoul 20

Snow and ice explodes from your fingertips to scatter your foes
and bind them with ice.

Daily ♦ Cold, Teleportation

Standard Action Close blast S

Target: Each creature in blast

Attack: Your highest ability modifier + 9 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 3d6 + your highest ability modifier cold damage, and the
target is blinded and immobilized (save ends both).

Miss: Half damage, and until the end of your turn the target
takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and is slowed.

Effect: You teleport to any square within the blast.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Winning Races.- Winterkin Eladrin

Feats

The following feats introduce the Winterkin Heri¬
tage feat as well as provide you with options for your
winterkin character.

Heroic Tier Feats

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
any level who meets the prerequisites.

Chilling Presence

Prerequisite: Winterkin Heritage
Benefit: When you use winter’s shroud, you can
deal 5 cold damage to the triggering enemy instead of
teleporting. Increase the damage to 10 at 11th level
and 15 at 21st level.

Ice Walk

Prerequisite: Winterkin Heritage
Benefit: You ignore difficult terrain that is ice or
snow.

Swirling Snow

Prerequisite: Winterkin Heritage
Benefit: Whenever you use winter’s shroud, until
the start of your next turn your square and squares
adjacent to you are lightly obscured.

Winterkin Heritage
[Eladrin Bloodline]

Prerequisite: Eladrin

Benefit: You gain the winter’s shroud power. In
addition, you gain resist cold equal to 5 + one-half
your level.

Winter’s Shroud Winterkin Racial Power

When the enemy’s attack falb, snow swirb around you to
whisk you to safety.

Encounter ♦ Teleportation

Immediate Reaction Personal

Trigger: An enemy damages you with an attack

Effect: You teleport 3 squares and gain concealment until the

Winter’s Reach

Prerequisite: Winterkin Heritage
Benefit: When you use winter’s shroud, increase
the distance you teleport by a number of squares
equal to your Dexterity modifier or your Intelligence
modifier.

Paragon Tier Feat

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
11th level or higher who meets the prerequisites.

Winter's Heart

Prerequisite: 11th level, Winterkin Heritage
Benefit: While you are not bloodied, any enemy
that hits you with a melee attack is slowed until the
end of its turn.

About the Author

Robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer
whose more recent work can be found in Martial Power™

2, Draconomicon™: Metallic Dragons, and Primal Power™.
Robert lives in Tennessee.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Channel Divinity.* MiELIKKI

By Matthew Sernett

Illustration by Chad King

“I rarely pray. I prefer to speak to my goddess through my daily actions, and
through my honest emotions. I need not gloss over what has occurred with
pretty words, twisting them to show myself most favorably. IfMielikki is with
me, then she knows the truth, knows how I act and how I feel.”

-Drizzt Do’Urden, in Starless Night

The Forest Queen has long dwelt in quiet glades and the peaceful hearts of those who walk
the wilderness. Her voice is heard in the whisper of the wind-blown canopy, and her touch is
felt by all who look upon a unicorn with wonder. Mielikki is goddess of forests, but she is also
a protector of those who enter them. She gives her love to those at home in the wild world or
those who seek solace away from civilization.

Mielikki’s worshipers rarely gather in great numbers, and she is often prayed to alongside
Silvanus and Chauntea. She has no temple as such, and the exact nature of worship to her varies
by individual. Hunters give her homage in the hopes of success and then take only what they
need from the forest. Travelers through the wild ask her protection and then take care to leave
little sign of their passage. Her most devout followers are rangers, wardens, and others who seek
to live in complete harmony with the wild—not as beasts themselves but as careful stewards and
friends to animals.

Mielikki has been called the Daughter of Silvanus, since her outlook is thought of as the
combination of Silvanus’s focus on the natural world and the love of Sune, goddess of beauty
and affection. Yet however apt the description might be, this notion is merely a romantic fancy.
Mielikki works independently of the greater god Silvanus, but her calm presence in the Deep
Wilds often serves to temper his wrath at those who despoil the world.

Febn

try 2010 | DRAGON 384

Channel Divinity: Mielikki

BACKGROUNDS

Mielikki touches the heart of all who feel wonder in
wilderness, but her favored domain is the woodlands
of the world. If your character worships Mielikki,
where did he or she gain an appreciation for the
natural world? One easy way to make this decision
is to base it upon a forest in the region from which
your character comes. Below are brief background
suggestions for the major forests of the regions and a
pointer for where to find more information about the
woodland.

PLAYING A DEVOTEE
OF MIELIKKI

As a devotee of Mielikki, you live to protect the
natural world from destruction. Yet Mielikki is
not unaligned like Silvanus. Mielikki hopes you
act not only for the good of the natural world,
but the world as a whole.

Ignorance fells more forests than evil, so it
is your duty to teach as well as defend. You
try to live in harmony with the natural world,
and it’s your calling to help others to learn to
do the same.

Just remember that although you’re playing
a hero of nature, your friends might not be. It’s
not your job as a servant of Mielikki to impose
her values upon others. Your character is sup¬
posed to lead by example and help others to see
the value of living in harmony with the world.
Remember also that your character might be
flawed or pragmatic. Sometimes you’ll make the
wrong decisions for the right reasons.

Aglarond: See page 76 of the Forgotten Realms®
Player’s Guide for information about the Yuirwood
and check out page 77 for the Yuirwood Ranger
background.

Amn: See page 80 of the Forgotten Realms Player’s
Guide for information about the Snakewood. Perhaps
you delved into the Snakewood in search of the
absent green dragon’s lair and discovered instead
a faith in Mielikki after she protected you from the
dangers of the snake-filled forest.

Baldur’s Gate: See page 82 of the Forgotten
Realms Player’s Guide for information about the Cloak
Wood and Werewoods. You might be from a family
of loggers of the Cloak Wood and be the one who
ended the threat to them with Mielikki’s aid. The
Werewoods could be a great background location for
a shifter character.

Cormyr: See page 88 of the Forgotten Realms
Player’s Guide for information about the King’s Forest.
Perhaps you were a poacher or a hero of the people¬
like Robin Hood, who opposed a corrupt official.

Dalelands: See pages 90 and 91 of the Forgotten
Realms Player’s Guide for information about the
Cormanthor. Perhaps you’re an ally to the elves or
citizen of Myth Drannor and found Mielikki a more
appealing deity than Corellon. Alternatively, perhaps
you are alone drow survivor of the purges of the
wood. See Myth Drannor for more information.

Dragon Coast: See pages 92 of the Forgotten
Realms Player’s Guide for information about the
Gulthandor Forest. This forest hosts many fey and
half-elves, and most are initially welcoming of
strangers. Perhaps you were a pirate who thought to
take advantage of the forest’s hospitality but learned
instead to love the place.

Gray Vale: See page 100 of the Forgotten Realms
Player’s Guide for information about the High Forest
and page 101 for information about the Southwood.
Check out page 101 for the Savage Youth and
Woodland Hunter backgrounds.

Great Dale: See page 102 of the Forgotten Realms
Player’s Guide for information about the Dunwood and
Forest of Lethyr. Check out the Adventurers section
on page 103 for three great backgrounds.

Impiltur: See page 106 of the Forgotten Realms
Player’s Guide for information about the Gray Forest.
Perhaps you ventured into the forest and became
possessed by an eladrin ghost. Now your only solace is
the beauty of the wilderness. Spend too long in civilized
lands and the ghost’s personality begins to take over.

Lurar: See page 108 of the Forgotten Realms
Player’s Guide for information about the Glimmerwood.
This is a great location for shifter, half-ore, or barbarian
characters to have learned about Mielikki. If you’re not
native to the wood, perhaps you ventured in following
rumors of Everlund s lost elder (see page 109).

Myth Drannor: See pages 114 and 115 of
the Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide for general
information about the Forest of Cormanthor. Both the
“Adventurers” and “Character Motivations” sections
offer great background ideas for a follower of Mielikki.

Vilhon Wilds: See page 126 of the Forgotten
Realms Player’s Guide for information about
Chondalwood. Read the “Adventurers” and
“Character Motivations” sections to see great
background ideas for a follower of Mielikki.

Another Forest: Plenty of named and unnamed
forests throughout the world do not have much, if
anything, written about them. If you want to have
discovered Mielikki in one of these woodlands, work
with your DM to devise details about the place.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Eebri

Channel Divinity: Mielikki

FEATS

Below you’ll find feats useful-but not necessarily
unique-to Mielikki’s faithful.

Heroic Tier Feats

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
any level who meets the prerequisites.

Shadow of the Wild

Prerequisite: Trained in Nature and Stealth
Benefit: If you are hidden outdoors and you make
an attack, you can make a Stealth check with a -5
penalty to remain hidden.

Wilderness Wariness

Prerequisite: Trained in Nature and Stealth
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to Perception
checks.

In addition, if you are outdoors and have any cover
or concealment when you make an initiative check,
you can make a Stealth check to become hidden.

Paragon Tier Feat

Any feat in this section is available to a character of
11th level or higher who meets the prerequisites.

Eorest Walk

Prerequisite: 11th level, trained in Nature
Benefit: You ignore difficult terrain in encounter
areas where the difficult terrain is the result of trees,
underbrush, plants, or natural growth. This feat does
not allow you to ignore challenging or hindering
terrain.

PARAGON PATH:
FAVORED OF MIELIKKI

“I know Mielikki is with me because I sense her. I feel her
touch as the wind. I hear her voice in the whisper of leaves.
I see her beauty in the scene around us. Her presence is as
real as yours. She embraces us with every reverent step we
take in the wilderness.”

Prerequisite: Good or lawful good, must worship
Mielikki

You’ve felt a love for the wilderness for your entire
life. Its grand vistas impress you, and even its
smallest wonders give you reason for delight. When
you learned of Mielikki, it was like reuniting with
a longtime friend. You’ve striven at length in her
service, and your efforts have not gone unrewarded.

Mielikki smiles upon those who pursue peace with
the natural world and share that view with others.
Thus you strive to spread understanding of nature’s
laws even as you battle to uphold them. It is not
enough to protect the world from those who live in

THE REAL MIELIKKI

Like many deities created for D&D® over the
years, Mielikki has roots in reality. In the
Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, the char¬
acter of Lemminkainen prays to Mielikki for
aid in hunting, and llmarinen’s wife prays
to Mielikki to keep her cattle safe as they
wander the forest. Mielikki also plays a role
in the creation of the bear. Mielikki is thus
viewed as a woodland goddess.

Ed Greenwood used the real Mielikki
as his inspiration for her first published men¬
tion as a D&D deity in his article “Down to Earth
Divinity” from Dragon #54. R. A. Salvatore then
elevated Mielikki’s importance to the Forgotten
Realms setting by making her the favored deity of
Drizzt Do’Urden thanks to the blind ranger Montolio
Debrouchee, and later as the goddess of Pikel Boul-
dershoulder,the dwarf druid in the R. A. Salvatore’s
Cleric Quintet series of novels.

If you’re interested in reading the Kalevala , you
can check i t out for free at |www.sacred-texts.com/|
| 1 or you can get a free Kindle download

of the text from amazon.com.

it. Instead, those who live in the world
must be taught to protect it. Of
course, a student does not learn
from a teacher with infinite
patience; those too stubborn or
stupid to learn the error of their
ways do not deserve nature’s
many gifts.

Favored
oe Mielikki
Path Features

Mielikki’s Generosity (11th
level): When you spend an action
point, instead of gaining an extra action, you can
grant an ally you can see an extra action (minor,
move, or standard) that the ally can take as a free
action. You can then spend a healing surge.

Mielikki’s Sight (11th level): Your attacks do not
take penalties for cover or concealment when your
target is outdoors.

Mielikki’s Judgment (16th level): Your attacks
against beasts, plants, and aberrant creatures score
critical hits on rolls of 19-20. In addition, when you
score a critical hit on a target that is outdoors, the
target is dazed until the end of your next turn.

Febn

irylOlO | DRAGON 384

Channel Divinity: Mielikki

Favored of Mielikki Powers

Protective Vines Favored of Mielikki 11

Mielikki causes a growth of plants to constrict your foes and
protect your friends.

Encounter ♦ Charm

Standard Action Close blast S

Target: Each enemy in blast

Attack: Your highest ability score modifier + 6 vs. Reflex
Level 21: Your highest ability score modifier + 9 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d6 + your highest ability score modifier damage. The
target is slowed and cannot make opportunity attacks until
the end of your next turn.

Level 21: 3d6 + your highest ability score modifier
damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your

Treestride Favored of Mielikki Utility 12

Your faith in Mielikki opens pathways that only creatures as
close to nature as dryads can see.

Daily ♦ Teleportation
Minor Action Personal

Effect: Until the end of the encounter, you can use a minor
action to teleport up to 20 squares if you begin and end the
teleport adjacent to a plant or plant creature of Large size
or larger.

Call of the Forest Favored of Mielikki Attack 20

You draw on your connection to primal nature to cause con¬
stricting verdant growth to ensnare your enemies.

Daily ♦ Zone

Standard Action Area burst 3 within 1 0

Target: Each creature in burst

Attack: Your highest ability score modifier + 9 vs. Will
Hit: 3d8 + highest ability modifier damage and the target is
restrained (save ends).

Effect: The burst creates a zone of verdant growth. The verdant
growth is difficult terrain and heavily obscured. Each
enemy that ends its turn in the zone takes 10 damage or
falls prone (enemy’s choice). Each beast ally and plant ally
within the zone gains a +2 power bonus to attack rolls until
the end of the encounter.

OTHER CHARACTER
ELEMENTS

A number of extant character options suit a follower
of Mielikki well. Below are just a few.

Camouflage

Martial Power™

Defender of the Wild

Player’s Handbook® 2

Fleetness of Mielikki

Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide

Grasp of the Wild

Divine Power™

Initiate of the Old Faith

Player’s Handbook 2

Power of the Wilderness Divine Power

Warrior of the Wild Player’s Handbook

1 Paragon Paths I

Avenger: Serene Initiate

Divine Power

Barbarian: Bear Warrior

Player’s Handbook 2

Barbarian: Wildrunner

Player’s Handbook 2

Cleric: Compassionate Healer

Divine Power

Cleric: Messenger of Peace

Divine Power

Elf: Twilight Guardian

Player’s Handbook 2

Elf, Ranger: Sylvan Archer

Martial Power

Paladin: Faithful Shield

Divine Power

Paladin: Hospitaler

Player’s Handbook

Ranger: Feral Spirit

Martial Power

Ranger: Horizon Walker

Martial Power

Ranger: High Forest Scout Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide

Ranger: Pack Runner

Martial Power

Ranger: Pathfinder

Player’s Handbook

Ranger: Wildcat Stalker

Martial Power

Seeker: Crimson Hunter

Player’s Handbook 3

Seeker: Seven Fates Archer

Player’s HqndboofcBB

Shaman: Ghost Panther

Player’s Handbook 2

Shaman: Great Bear Shaman

Player’s Handbook 2

Warden: Bloodwrath Guardian

Player’s Handbook 2

Warlord: Pack Master

Dragon" Magazine #364

Warden: Horned Champion

Player’s Handbook 2

Warden: Verdant Lord

Player’s Handbook 2

1 Epic Destinies 1

Avatar of Freedom

Divine Power

Avatar of Hope

Divine Power

Avatar of Life

Divine Power

Chosen Forgotten Realms Player’s Guide

Divine Class: Saint

Divine Power

Harper of Legend

Dragon Magazine #367

Primal Class: Glorious Spirit

Player’s Handbook 2

Primal Class: Primal Avatar

Player’s Handbook 2

Fighter: Eternal Defender

Martial Power

Ranger: Beastlord Martial Power

About the Author

Matt Sernett started with Wizards of the Coast in 2000
as an assistant editor for both the Dragon® and Dungeon®
magazines. Matt followed the magazines when they
transferred to Paizo Publishing, eventually becoming Editor-
in-Chief of Dragon. In 2004 Matt returned to Wizards of
the Coast as a designer for D&D®, changing title in 2007
when he became a creative designer for digital games at the
company. Today Matt splits his time between design for D&D
and doing world-building and writing flavor text for Magic:
The Gathering.®

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

Channel Divinity:

Avandra's Fortunes

By Robert J. Schwalb

Illustration by Chad King

Ancient compacts forged long ago might prevent the
gods from taking a direct hand in mortal affairs, but
one does not have to look hard to find the gods’ influ¬
ence in the natural world. Each deity has concerns
and interests in the world, and people can know the
gods better through these interests. Most mortals,
however, lack the wisdom and will to benefit from
them, to receive the divine insights, or to recognize
the presence of the gods in the rich and diverse world
around them.

However, if there’s one god all adventurers can rec¬
ognize, it’s Avandra, because her interests are bound
tightly to adventure’s spirit. Avandra is the patron
of freedom, exploration, travel, and above all, luck.
She is the bringer of change, the indomitable spirit,
and serendipity incarnate. She is a hero’s constant
companion and an oppressor’s bitterest enemy. She is
freedom in divine flesh, beholden to no law but her
own. And to those looking for hope and liberty in a
world of darkness and upheaval, they need only look
to the road ahead, because she is there, beckoning all
to throw off oppression’s chains and live life as it was
intended.

Mortals come to Avandra for many reasons, but
most adventurers court her because she is Lady Luck.
One prays to her for prosperity and good fortune, and
they seek her blessing when they need help in find¬
ing a positive outcome in the direst circumstances.
Given the adventurer’s life of unequaled mayhem,
Avandra proves a useful, if sometimes fickle, patron,
and through her adventurers can find victory where
others would find defeat, treasure where others might
find death, and glory where countless others have
found only obscurity.

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febn

Channel Divinity: Avandra

NEW FEATS

The following feats help Avandra’s devotees make
luck their strong ally. Any character that meets the
prerequisites can take these feats.

Accursed Challenge

Prerequisite: Paladin, must worship Avandra
Benefit: Whenever a creature marked by you
makes an attack that does not include you as its
target, that target takes a -2 penalty to saving throws
until the start of its next turn.

Avandra’s Boon

Prerequisite: Any divine class, must worship
Avandra

Benefit: Whenever you roll a natural 1 on an
attack roll or saving throw, you gain a +2 bonus to
your next attack roll or saving throw made before the
end of your next turn.

Avandra's Covenant

Prerequisite: Invoker, Divine Covenant class fea¬
ture, must worship Avandra

Benefit: When you use a divine encounter or
daily attack power on your turn, you can allow an
ally within 10 squares of you to make a saving throw
instead of using your covenant manifestation.

Bountieul Fortune

Prerequisite: Cleric, divine fortune power, must
worship Avandra

Benefit: When you use divine fortune, you and
each ally adjacent to you gain temporary hit points
equal to your Charisma modifier.

CONEOUNDING LUCK

Prerequisite: Halfling, second chance power, must
worship Avandra

Benefit: When you use your second chance racial
power and the triggering enemy’s attack misses, that
enemy takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end
of your next turn.

Guileeul Shiet

Prerequisite: Halfling, avenger, must worship
Avandra

Benefit: When your oath of enmity target misses
you with an attack, you can shift 1 square to a square
closer to or adjacent to the target as a free action.

Haleling’s Strength

Prerequisite: Halfling, paladin, divine strength
power, must worship Avandra

Benefit: Increase the bonus you gain from divine
strength to Strength modifier + 4.

Lucky Retribution

Prerequisite: Halfling, invoker, must worship
Avandra

Benefit: Whenever an enemy misses you with an
attack, you gain combat advantage with your invoker
attack powers against that enemy until the end of
your next turn.

Vengeance’s Reward

Prerequisite: Avenger, must worship Avandra
Benefit: When you drop your oath of enmity target
to 0 hit points, you and each ally adjacent to the target
gain a +2 bonus to saving throws until the end of your
next turn.

AVANDRA AND HALFLINGS

The connection between Avandra and the hal¬
fling race is as old as the halflings themselves.
Legend holds Avandra favored these people,
finding much to like in their good natures and
friendly dispositions. However, she feared for
them, rightly sensing that cruel tyrants would
conquer the small and personable folk. Rather
than see their bright spirits dimmed by oppres¬
sion, Avandra gifted the halflings with good
fortune to give them an edge they needed to
survive. For this reason, many halflings name
Avandra as their patron deity, and those who
go on to become divine champions frequently
choose her over other gods.

Febn

irylOlO ] DRAGON 384

Channel Divinity: Avandra

Fortune Blessed

“The odds are stacked in my favor.”

Prerequisite: Any divine class, must worship
Avandra

Serendipity favors you. You have long proved a con¬
stant and loyal servant to Avandra by making her
interests your own in your ongoing struggle against
tyranny and in your willingness to explore the world
and sample all it has to offer. Your virtuous soul and
good works have won you the goddess’s favor, and
although you know you were ever in her good graces,
you realize you have only touched upon what is pos¬
sible in her service.

Becoming fortune blessed makes luck your ser¬
vant, yours to shape and manipulate as you desire.
The goddess permits this mastery as long as you
advance her aims in the world and remain pure of
heart and purpose. You have a knack for husband¬
ing your good fortune and turning setbacks to your
advantage. The greater your power becomes, the
more the impossible becomes possible until one day
you find there is nothing you can’t achieve with luck
on your side.

Fortune Blessed Path Features

Avandra’s Luck (11th level): Whenever you roll
a natural 1 or 20 on an attack roll or saving throw
during an encounter, you gain 1 luck token. Luck
tokens remain until you spend them or until you take
an extended rest, at which point you remove all unex¬
pended luck tokens.

Whenever you make an attack roll, saving throw,
ability check, or skill check on your turn, you can
expend one luck token after seeing the result. Roll
a d6. On a result of 1-3, you gain a +1 bonus to the
triggering roll. On a 4 or 5, you gain a +2 bonus to the
triggering roll. On a 6, you can reroll the triggering
roll and use the result you like. You have no limit to
the number of luck tokens you can spend during an
encounter, but you can spend only one token per turn.

Fortune Blessed Implements (11th level): You
can use any implements you would ordinarily use
for divine powers with fortune blessed implement
prayers.

Lucky Action (11th level): Whenever you spend
an action point to take an extra action, you can make
a saving throw. If the saving throw succeeds, you also
gain one luck token.

Swift Luck (16th level): The first time in each
encounter that you roll a natural 18,19, or 20 on
an attack roll or saving throw, you can take an extra
move action on your next turn.

1 Lucky Break

Fortune Blessed Utility 12 1

Unexpected fortune turns i
a close call.

i certain injury or even death into

Daily ♦ Divine
Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: You take damage

Personal

Effect: Reduce the triggering damage by your healing surge
value. You can spend 1 luck token to add 1 d20 to this
amount. If this reduces the damage to 0, you also shift 1

square.

Fortune Blessed Attack 20 |

You call to Avandra and ask the goddess to lift her gaze from
your enemy. For a time, nothing goes right for your chosen foe.

Daily ♦ Divine, Implement, Psychic

Standard Action Ranged 10

Target: One creature

Attack: Highest ability vs. Will

Hit: 2d8 + highest ability modifier psychic damage.

Effect: The target is dazed, slowed, takes a -2 penalty to at¬
tack rolls, and takes psychic damage equal to your highest
ability modifier the first time it misses with an attack on
its turn (save ends all). Whenever the target succeeds on a
saving throw to end the effect, you can spend 1 luck token
as an immediate interrupt to force the target to reroll the
saving throw and use the second result.

Fortune Blessed Prayers

USB

Fortune Blessed Attack 11

You steal a bit of luck from your enemy to leave the foe fum¬
bling and stumbling through the fight.

Encounter 4 Divine

Immediate Reaction Melee touch

Trigger: An enemy adjacent to you misses you with a melee
attack

Target: One creature

Effect: The triggering enemy repeats the attack against a legal
target of your choice or itself, with a +2 bonus to the at¬
tack roll. If the attack hits and deals damage, it deals extra
damage equal to your highest ability modifier. In addition,
if have 0 luck tokens when you use this power, you gain 1
luck token.

About the Author

Robert J. Schwalb is an award-winning game designer
whose most recent work can be found in the Player’s
Handbook 3, Martial Power 2, and Draconomicon 2: Metallic
Dragons.

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

Debut Commentary:

The Battlemind

By Mike Mearls

Of all the classes in Player’s Handbook 3, the battle-
mind walked the longest road from concept to final
execution. We knew we wanted a psionic defender,
but I’ve never been happy with building a class solely
on the intersection of a power source and a role.
While those two things are useful descriptors, they
aren’t the exciting part of D&D. Nobody dreams of
being the “martial defender” who defeats the ram¬
paging dragon. Players want to be fighters, wizards,
clerics, and rogues. They want to be part of a living,
breathing fantasy world.

With that in mind, I had to come up with a con¬
cept for the battlemind that would make the class
distinct. Even though little of that flavor would shine
through in the class’s presentation, it was important
to come up with a context for each mechanical aspect
of the class.

The original direction, one that didn’t survive the
design and development process, cast the battlemind
as a warrior of the Feywild. The class’s original name
was the ironjack. I liked the idea of a trickster war¬
rior, a champion that used cunning, strength, and
deception in equal measure. To give you a sense of
the concept I had in mind, check out the cover of
Horslip’s “Dearg Doom” by the metal band Slough
Feg. I really like the story that song tells, and the char¬
acter it creates felt like a perfect fit for a battlemind.

Unfortunately, that concept didn’t hold up well
with psionic magic as its power source. The link to
the Feywild felt tenuous at best, forced at worst. Some
of the concepts of that class survive, but its flavor and
concept were rolled back to a more typical, psionic
warrior. Speaking of which, the psychic warrior name
was one that seemed a little too generic. Battlemind
ties into a good chunk of the class’s flavor. It felt like a
better fit that served the specifics of the class.

Speed of thought is a great example of a power born
in the ironjack phase. It was originally intended as
a power that reflected the ironjack’s battle lust, con¬
fidence, and speed. It serves a similar role for the
battlemind, though it is more driven by the power of
psionic magic than anything else. As a mechanic, it
was inspired by multiple instances in my campaigns
where the fighter or warden was stuck at the back
of the party at the start of a fight. With a few bad
initiative results, the monsters were upon the group
before the defender could move into position. Speed
of thought doesn’t completely solve the problem, but it
does give the battlemind a lot more flexibility. I also
liked the cerebral aspect of a warrior who always
knows where to position himself at the start of a fight.

The battlemind s demand power drew a bit from
both the swordmage and the warden. It allows a bat¬
tlemind to mark a target for a longer period of time,

primarily to make the augment option a more com¬
pelling choice. It also prevents the battlemind from
suffering too badly when dazed or otherwise short on
actions.

Mind spike is an attempt to subtly encourage a
battlemind to seek out bigger, more-melee oriented
enemies. The feedback loop it creates levies a harsher
penalty against high damage enemies, while also
guaranteeing the destruction of a marked minion. It
lacks the predictable output of the paladin’s marking
ability, and it is less effective against creatures that
rely on conditions and effects other than damage.

The battlemind’s encounter and daily powers run
along a few, key themes. If you’re familiar with psionics
in previous D&D editions, they should look familiar.

Finally, battleminds are good at using psionic
magic to transform their bodies. A battlemind can
turn his flesh into metal or gain the strength and
reach of a giant. However, you’ll have to wait until
the release of Player’s Handbook 3 to see those powers.
This preview focuses on the battleminds powers
that have more of a telepathic, mind control bent to
them. They allow a battlemind to twist his enemy’s
senses, place phantoms in its mind, and otherwise
lure it into bad decisions or positions through psionic
manipulation.

So, that’s the battlemind in brief. Have fun with it!

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

Design &. Development.*

Martial Power

By Rodney Thompson & Richard Baker

Got steel? Martial Power 2 is a brand-new Dungeons &
Dragons sourcebook that hits the shelves in March.
Richard Baker (lead designer for Martial Power 2) and
Rodney Thompson (lead developer for the book) take
a few minutes to share their thoughts about building
a sourcebook full of new builds, powers, feats, and
features for martial heroes.

Rodney: The Martial Power 2 sourcebook intro¬
duces a variety of new options for fighters, rogues,
rangers, and warlords. Since this book was the second
power book for martial characters, we had the oppor¬
tunity to try some new things and experiment with
play styles. One of the goals of the book is to find new
ways for players to use classes that have been around
since the first Player’s Handbook for 4th Edition, to
make those classes seem new and fresh for someone
that has played them before.

Rich: With that in mind, we set out to outline a
book that wouldn’t obsolete the Player’s Handbook
or Martial Power, but instead reinforce existing
options as we broke into some new design space.
The first step in outlining Martial Power 2 was to
examine the existing options for martial charac¬
ters. What sort of martial hero did you want to play
that you couldn’t play now? Was there an obvious
build possibility that hasn’t been explored yet? How
could we provide players with something new and

interesting without abandoning or invalidating pre¬
vious options?

Sometimes, design space was suggested by older
material in the game. For example, the brawling
fighter has its roots in 2nd Edition’s Complete Fighter’s
Handbook and the combat styles described there. In
comparing 4th Edition to previous editions, I noticed
that three of the four styles described in that old
sourcebook appeared in 4th Edition fighter builds,
but the one-handed style hadn’t yet. That got me to
thinking about why someone would choose to leave
that second hand free, which bumped into some
other musings I’d had about ways to give defenders
more “sticky” powers. The shadowy rogue build was
conceived as a way to represent a rogue that moved
and felt a little more like the thief of earlier editions,
a character who relied on stealth as his primary
method for generating combat advantage and spent
more time skulking about setting up his attacks,
instead of rushing in to flank at the first opportunity.

Design space also grew from play patterns or
story opportunities suggested by existing 4th Edition
material. For example, early in the outlining pro¬
cess, Michele Carter (one of our editors, who plays a
rogue in a regular game) lamented the fact that the
4th Edition character building rules made it pretty
suboptimal to play a smart rogue. Since rogues rely

on Dexterity and Dexterity covers the Dex-Int ability
pair for determining your defenses, you’re better off
spending your ability scores elsewhere. By creating a
high-intelligence rogue option, we’d not only make
Michele happy, but we would also help out all the
other players who might have noticed this same prob¬
lem. And this would also shake up the mix of races
who make good rogue characters.

We saw another potential opportunity for some¬
thing new with the warlord. Unlike the other martial
classes, the warlord didn’t have a long history in
the D&D game-its most distant ancestor was the
marshal from 3rd Edition’s Miniatures Handbook.
Early in the 4th Edition design process, I wrote a
class description for the warlord that attempted to
hammer out some breadth of concept for the class.

I threw out terms like “barbarian warchief,” “elven
firstblade,” or “halfling marchwarden.” When I
brainstormed ideas for the Martial Power 2 warlord,
the thing I kept coming back to was the idea of what
elven, dwarven, or halfling warlords might be like.
None of these races made especially good warlords,
simply because of the ability score preferences of
the class. But it seemed to me that there was a real
opportunity to broaden the class concept in MP 2. As
a result, the insightful warlord and the skirmishing
warlord were born.

Febri

THE WISE WARLORD

Rich: Between the various warlord builds from the
Player’s Handbook and Martial Power, I felt that we
had the idea of intelligent and charismatic melee-
focused warlords covered pretty well. To create some
new space for the warlord, we’d have to And a way to
change up the mix. The first thing we decided to try
was a warlord that featured Wisdom as a secondary
ability.

By making a warlord that rewarded a good
Wisdom score, we opened up a new array of races
for the warlord class. Before, if you wanted to play
a dwarf leader, it was really suboptimal to not be a
cleric. That was sort of a shame, since we had scads of
flavor and history on the dwarf race suggesting that
warlords would fit quite well in their culture. Like¬
wise, elves now had w ay in to the warlord.

Of course, simply changing up the secondary abil¬
ity for its own sake wasn’t good enough. We needed
to come up with a story hook on what exactly wise
warlords did that was different from intelligent or
charismatic warlords. Why would one power refer
to Intelligence, and a different power to Wisdom?
What exactly is the wise warlord doing if he’s not out-
maneuvering his enemies or inspiring his allies? The
answer we came up with was the idea of an intuitive
“gut reaction” warlord, one who was good at read¬
ing enemy intentions and anticipating trouble. With
that in mind, we designed a number of immediate-
action powers for the insightful warlord to reflect his
uncanny ability to guess correctly and react quickly.

Rodney: But just making one of the new war¬
lord builds, the insightful warlord, Wisdom friendly
introduced several challenges. During development

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

we decided to embrace that idea for the skirmishing
warlord (the second warlord build in the book), as
well. The introduction of a new secondary statistic
drastically narrows the pool of powers that a player
can draw upon when creating a character. Having
both warlord builds in this book that use Wisdom
certainly provides more choice for the new breed of
Wisdom-secondary warlords, but that also means that
these powers wouldn’t be as useful to players of other
warlord builds.

At this point, we realized that we could make
these powers much more useful to other warlords
by having the powers refer to two secondary ability
scores. As a result, many of the insightful warlords
use Wisdom or Charisma as a secondary statistic,
while the skirmishing warlord can use Wisdom or
Intelligence. Overall, this gives warlord players a lot
more flexibility in their choice of powers and second¬
ary ability scores, and it opens up the class to all those
new races Rich spoke of.

THE RANGED WARLORD

Rich: The other half of our effort to break out some
new space for the warlord involved the skirmishing
warlord, as well—a ranged version of a class that was
formerly strictly melee. The skirmishing warlord con¬
cept arose from the same observations I’d had about
the way different races ought to approach the class;
it just seemed natural that an elf or halfling warlord
would prefer to do her work with a bow.

At first, we started to design the skirmishing
warlord as a set of class-feature replacements and
exceptions, but Tavis Allison and Eytan Bernstein,
the freelance designers who worked on the warlord

chapter, came back to me and suggested that what we
were looking at here was really a whole new build,
and not simply an alternate class feature. Of course,
they were right, so I revised the outline and turned

We hit a tough hurdle with the question of the
skirmishing warlord’s primary ability. Most ranged
attacks are Dexterity-based, so we wrestled with the
question of whether we should make the skirmish¬
ing warlord powers Dexterity attacks. Of course, that
would have made all the other warlord powers in
the game pretty unattractive, since they’re Strength-
based. Ultimately we decided that it was okay to keep
the skirmishing warlord powers as Strength attacks.
After all, he could easily be a distance warlord by
throwing spears or axes, and if he decided to be a
Strength-based bow wielder, well, there are plenty of
literary examples of very strong bowmen (Hercules
and Odysseus leap to mind).

Rodney: The Skirmishing Warlord build rep¬
resents a pretty radical departure from the normal
warlord’s modus operandi. Whereas the warlord
in the Player’s Handbook is a melee combatant, the
skirmishing warlord pulls the character back from
the front lines to fight as an archer from the rear
ranks. Thus far, new builds have not created such
a fundamental shift in the location the character
can be found on the battlefield. That said, we have
experimented with attacks for some classes (like the
warlock, bard, and artificer) that work well either
from melee or at range, but the skirmishing war¬
lord is the first time we’ve taken a character class
designed solely for melee combat and pulled it back
to range. The warlord seemed to be a good choice
because it doesn’t necessarily require the character

iber 2009 | DRAGON 381

to be in melee to fulfill its role as a leader. (In fact,
the leader role is one that, like the striker role, can do
its job in melee or at range without much complica¬
tion.) Furthermore, many of the warlords out there
use polearms and other reach weapons already, and
the line between a melee combatant with reach and a
ranged combatant isn’t very large.

When the skirmishing warlord came into develop¬
ment, we knew right away that there were several big
hurdles we had to cross before the build would feel
viable to players approaching the book. A big problem
with introducing a build that is such a big departure
mechanically is that there will inevitably be fewer
options for players of those characters. Someone
approaching the warlord class would find two books
full of melee powers (not to mention those found on
D&D Insider), whereas this book would be the only
source for ranged attack powers. Likewise, a whole
new suite of ranged attack powers would be all but
useless to most melee warlords.

The former problem we tried to solve with the new
combat styles (explained below), but the latter prob¬
lem led us to make sure that some of the new powers
could be used both in melee and at range. That way,
we could maximize the number of powers useful
to the skirmishing warlord while still making them
available to melee warlords.

To make the skirmishing warlord work and still
feel balanced against other builds, we gave the build
the ability to use Strength for ranged basic attacks,
but took away proficiency in the light shield and
chainmail. No longer thrust into melee, the warlord
suddenly becomes the target of fewer attacks, and
thus needs the AC boost from those proficiencies less.
The ability to use Strength for ranged basic attacks

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

also lets the skirmishing warlord play well with the
other warlord builds that grant basic attacks, mean¬
ing that two warlords in the same party can feel very
different in the way they play, yet work well as a team.

COMBAT STYLES

Rich: While we could have designed Martial Power
2 without introducing any new game elements, we
felt that we needed to show off a few things that no
one had seen before. One of the major new systems
introduced in the book comes in a series of feats
collectively called combat styles. Combat styles
were intended to boost weapon users’ options when
specializing in a particular weapon, so that weapon
choice can be an even more iconic part of your char¬
acter. More so than other characters, martial heroes
have reasons to care about their exact weapon selec¬
tion, and players of martial heroes want to feel like
their choice of weapon is important.

To build a combat style system, we grouped similar
weapons together into sets that could share a common
technique or thematic approach. To accommodate the
possibility of new weapons being added to the game
system later, we described these groups by their basic
game identities-for example, one-handed versatile
blades, or two-handed maces and hammers, or off-hand
light blades. In a few cases, we looked for groups that
would include weapons that didn’t see a lot of play from
the martial classes (the mace or spear, for example) to
make some interesting new combinations possible.

The chassis of the combat style system came from
the domain feats of Divine Power. We had a couple of
reasons for doing this: First, we wanted combat styles
to be “domains for martial characters”-an important

flavor element that explained why your character
preferred a particular weapon and made otherwise
similar martial characters feel different from each
other. Second, we don’t necessarily want players to
have to learn many different ways of doing similar
things. Since domain feats are out there already, and
folks understand how they work, we wanted to take
advantage of that familiarity in the player base.

The second level of combat style “specialization”
we designed was a set of once per encounter “critical
riders” or 1-round stances that essentially gave you
an additional power that related to your chosen style.
Real estate (both physical space and conceptual space)
is a valuable commodity in sourcebooks. Once you’ve
spent time describing something like the Tiger Claw
style or the Nerathan High Blade style, it’s efficient
to provide additional options or depth on that same
topic. In other words, twenty-five “deep” styles are
generally better than fifty “shallow” ones. With that in
mind, we turned over a combat style system that fea¬
tured a beginner’s level—the feats that modified at-will
powers—and more advanced levels for characters who
wanted to continue their feat investment.

Rodney: The original fighting styles turned over
to development included a new feat that altered your
at-will attacks based on the weapons you used, and
then a second feat that gave you a new power. The
power was triggered when you hit an enemy with the
weapon, but during development we realized that
this was not only too complicated a way to express
relatively simple effects, but also added a whole new
power to your character ... and characters already
have a lot of powers.

Our initial attempt to resolve the issues with the
second-tier combat style feats resulted in us cutting

iber 2009 | DRAGON 381

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT

the new powers altogether and then just folding the
benefits of those powers into a new feat. Around
that time in development, we published a few of the
revised combat styles on D&D Insider as playtest
content.

Around the same time, we had a bit of an epiph¬
any as to what role the fighting styles should serve.
More than just more feats that let you specialize in
particular weapons, the combat styles needed to be
something that really stood out, mechanically, and let
you do something you couldn’t otherwise do without
this feat. Additionally, feats are often either forgotten
(because their effects are so minor the player doesn’t
remember them) or slow the game down (because
they create if/then scenarios where the player has to
figure out which of his conditional feats applies to the
current situation). Since we wanted to make sure that
these combat style feats didn’t introduce more prob¬
lems along those lines, we decided to tie the combat
styles not only to specific weapons but also specific
powers. When you tie a feat to a particular power, you
can write that feat’s effect down on your power card
(or your cheat sheet, if you’re like me and don’t use
power cards) and then you are always reminded of its
effect every time you use that power.

When playtest feedback started coming back in, it
confirmed out suspicions. The playtested feats were
often either forgettable or slow to use, and not exactly
fighting up the message boards with interest. Fight¬
ing styles needed to contribute more significantly to
the game, and be tied directly to powers to be easier
to use. However, tying a feat to a single power makes
the feat far less useful, so we needed to make sure
the second-tier feats weren’t too narrow. Thus, the
Greater Style Feats were born.

The Greater Style Feats

Rodney: The first-tier combat style feats already
spoke directly to at-will powers, so little needed to be
done to make them fit the model we wanted. With
two goals for the second-tier feats (tie them to powers,
and make them really have an impact on the way you
build and play your character), we decided to have
these feats do for encounter powers what the first-
tier feats did for at-wills. When you take one of the
second-tier feats, it modifies your encounter powers
in some way. Likewise, since we didn’t want the feats
to only come into play once per encounter, that meant
that each feat needed to cover multiple encounter
powers across a span of levels. That way, if you take
the powers related to the style, you’re gaining the
style benefit each time you use one of those powers so
the feat comes into play multiple times. At that point,
each of the second-tier feats had to become multiple
feats, one for each class that could potentially take the
combat style, as the feats would simply run too long if
we tried to include one feat covering multiple encoun¬
ter powers from multiple classes.

Another added benefit of this approach was that
it allowed us to take powers that otherwise might
be less appealing in general and make them better
choices by adding on new benefits. The best powers
in the game don’t need such help, but powers that are
seen as weaker or more corner case may now be more
viable options thanks to combat styles. More choice is
better, and the greater style feats hopefully make it so
that choosing a power at a given level provides more
options thanks to the boost given by combat styles.

Along similar lines, the greater style feats also gave
us a chance to address one of the concerns I talked

about earlier, that of new builds having fewer power
choices than older builds. Many of the greater style
feats modify encounter powers in such a way that
the power is now more appealing to players of one
of the new builds. For example, the Adamant Arrow
Commander feat makes a suite of six powers from the
Player’s Handbook and Martial Power into powers that
can be used at range, opening them up as options for
the skirmishing warlord. That way, the combat style
opens up a whole array of power choices that didn’t
exist before, letting the player customize the charac¬
ter a bit further.

The last step in the creation of the greater style
feats actually came during the editing process. At a
certain point, we realized that, due to the number
of combat styles versus the number of powers com¬
patible with what we wanted those styles to do, we
were introducing a degree of overlap between the
powers augmented by the greater style feats. Since
overlapping mechanics often lead to unintended
consequences (both those that end up being too
powerful and those that just don’t make sense from a
narrative standpoint), we decided to make the styles
mutually exclusive. You can take multiple combat
styles, but you can only use one at a time. That also
makes the fighting styles feel like distinct disciplines
that have their own methods and tenets. With that,
the combat styles were ready to go into the book,
and I hope that people will really embrace them as
a way to open doors to new options for their martial
characters.

Rich: These changes made these advanced feats
much easier to use. Good job, Rodney!

November 2009 | DRAGON 381

CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD

Love is a Battlemat

BY SHELLY MAZZANOBLE

illustrations by William O’Conner

Love is in the air, everywhere I look around. You can’t
swing a diaper-clad, ageless, winged toddler without
smacking into something pink, red, or scantily clad.
(And for the record, you should never swing a toddler
around. It’s bad for their shoulders.)

One might think Valentine’s Day is reserved for
starry-eyed lovers. I say hooey. Valentine’s Day should
be celebrated regardless of your romantic status.
There’s got to be something to love, right? Red velvet
cupcakes? Gossip Girl? Microfiber Snuggies? (Don’t
knock it until you’ve been encased in the loving arms
of one. Not to mention, that a Snuggie can double as a
mean wizard’s robe.)

Even if you found yourself without a romantic
relationship this Valentine’s Day, there are plenty of
relationships in your life to celebrate. Like the rela¬
tionship you have with Dungeons & Dragons.

“Why thank you, Shelly. Sometimes words speak louder
than actions. Saying “I love you” goes a long way.”

Not to worry, Dungeons & Dragons. We’re here
for you.

“I have feelings too, you know!”

I know. Have I told you lately that I love you?

“Aww...”

Those who work on Dungeons & Dragons have
an interesting bond with their favorite RPG. Not only
do they love the game socially, but professionally as
well. And that’s not an easy balance.

In honor of the pinkest month on the calendar,

I decided to examine what the game of love really
means. Who better to ask than some of the most
devoted duos in the office? Besides, I’m a sucker for a
good “how they met” story.

Peter Schaefer, RPG Developer. With Dungeons
& Dragons 18 Years.

As a young boy growing up in the lush green woods of
Northern Oregon—

“I didn’t grow up in the woods,” Peter wants to
clarify. “We had a house, you know.”

Growing up in Hood River, the wind surfing
capital of the world, a bespectacled, Birkenstock-clad
Peter found himself immersed in cerebral hobbies
like fantasy and sci-fi novels, computer games, and
“playing in the woods.”

“You do have an elfish look about you.”

“Really? I’ve always thought of myself more as a
halfling.”

CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD

Perhaps the love of fantasy, gaming, and even
tromping around in the wild might lead one to con¬
clude that Peter and Dungeons & Dragons were
meant to be.

“Whenyou know, you know...”

“Yep. It was love at first read.”

They met through a friend of a friend before Peter
was even in double digits.

“My buddy described a game his older brother
had and I was intrigued,” Peter said, recounting what
was to become a propitious conversation nearly two
decades ago. Peter picked up a Dungeons Master’s
Guide and “away we went.”

“He was just a kid andyet wise beyond his years.”

Peter fondly remembers Rufus Redaxe, his beloved
chaotic neutral dwarf fighter.

“Rufus was on a hereditary quest to make an axe
from red steel,” Peter reminisces. “He went on to
establish an empire on the basis of being deeply in
debt.”

“Rufus! I haven’t thought about him inyears. How is the
old chum doing, anyway?”

“Oh, he’s long since retired. But I’m sure he
remembers you fondly as well.”

While Peter spends the most time with Dungeons
& Dragons currently, he recalls a time in college
when the two parted ways briefly.

“We grew apart,” Peter explained. “Took different

“Ifyou love something, set it free...”

Peter’s need to sow his wild oats introduced him to
other games, such as Mage, Exalted, and Shadowrun.

“Being with other games only brought me closer to
Dungeons & Dragons in the end,” Peter explains.

“If it comes back to you, it’s yours...”

“Aw, that’s sweet.”

Not everyone understood the bond between Peter
and Dungeons & Dragons, but it’s clear they have
a lot of history together. In fact, it’s that history that
makes this game stand out from his other hobbies.

“We’re very comfortable together.”

“It’s a very relaxed partnership.”

Peter loves DMing as much as he loves rolling up a
PC. It’s Dungeons & Dragons’ many layers of depth
and storytelling that he finds endlessly fascinating.

“There’s no other activity that incorporates tell¬
ing a story with playing a game quite so well,” Peter
explained when asked what it is that makes the game
so special.

“Peter is special too. He’s smart and dedicated and loyal.
And he has nice, brown eyes.”

“I’m blushing!”

It’s clear in this case absence does make the heart
grow fonder, but what does the future have in store
for these two?

“I see an enduring, but open, partnership,” Peter

“Me too.... Wait. Open? How open?”

Rodney Thompson, RPG Developer. With
Dungeons & Dragons 17 Years.

Picture this: a sweet southern boy-eight years old
with a penchant for reading, baseball, and Nintendo
games-hears wild tales of a mysterious game that
involves halfling thieves, homemade flaming bullets,
and skeletal monsters.

“A friend from my neighborhood played Dungeons
& Dragons with his older cousins and told me all
about it,” Rodney said, “fust the idea of that kind of
freedom blew my mind.”

“He just had to meet me.”

But it was another three years or so before Rodney
and Dungeons & Dragons would finally come face
to tabletop. The two hit it off right away, but not every¬
one approved.

“My parents were skeptical at first. Growing up
in the South, there was some trepidation about the
game,” explained Rodney.

“I tend to clam up around parents.”

“But once they realized you were good for me, they
welcomed you with open arms.”

“Sure. Once they learned I could provide for you,”

“They are very proud of my work.”

Rodney fondly remembers his first time.

“Awkward!”

“First time rolling up a character.”

“Oh.”

“His name was Saluk—a human holy slayer in an Al-
Qadim campaign.”

“Al-Qadim? Wow, we haven’t been there in a while.”

Dungeons & Dragons players are a sentimental
bunch. Some hold on to the d20 with which they
rolled their first crit. Someone else once told me he
had all the players he TPKed for the first time sign
the DM screen from that fatal session. And Rodney
still has the miniature of that first character that one
of the other players painted for him.

“Unsurprisingly, in Chris Perkins’s Wednesday
night campaign, my avenger of the Raven Queen,
Vargas, was heavily inspired by Saluk.”

“The first one is always the most special. I’m glad Saluk
didn’t die a horrific death like the many that came after.”

“Me too.”

Like so many Dungeons & Dragons devotees,
Rodney oscillates between player and DM

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD

“That’s the beauty of our relationship. No one needs
to be stuck in just one role. Sometimes you feel like taking
control of things and sometimes you want to sit back and let
someone else take the reigns.”

“I’ve had many great times in both roles. As a
player, the last great time was in Chris Perkins’s cam¬
paign,” Rodney says.

“Ahh... Chris Perkins ...one of the most thoughtful,
loving, and creative Dungeon Masters I’ve ever known.”

“Umm... I’m right here.”

“Right. Sorry.”

Rodney continues, “In a recent session my afore¬
mentioned avenger, Vargas, helped save the capital
city of the Empire from destruction by destroying a
giant floating fortress that was attacking the city.”

“So brave.”

“As a DM, about a month ago I ran an all-day game
where my players laid siege to an enemy fortress,
killed a white dragon, and then fought off githyanki
warriors to capture a flying ship.”

As much as Rodney cares for Dungeons & Drag¬
ons, he claims to be a “man of many loves” and insists
there’s room in his heart for lots of games. He likes
board games, “especially cooperative or semi-cooper¬
ative games.”

“In other words, he likes games that resemble me.”

“I have a type, I guess.”

For someone who is basically paid to notice other
games, it seems like Dungeons & Dragons will
always face some competition. But there’s only one
game he plays nearly as often as D&D.

“Star Wars Saga Edition.”

“That’s because you’re afraid to commit. I don’t want to
pressure you but what’s that expression about buying the
cow...?”

Star Wars aside, hearing Rodney talk about what
makes Dungeons & Dragons so special makes it
hard to imagine him spending time with any other

“I love that when I go to Gen Con, I’m surrounded
by people whose lives have been shaped by Dungeons
& Dragons,” he says. “The players have their own
language, their own inside jokes and common stories,
their own shared experiences. It’s a very personal
hobby, so people get very invested in it, and it really
affects their culture.”

“My friends are very important to me.”

A self-proclaimed “free spirit,” it’s no surprise
Rodney finds himself drawn to D&D’s creativity and
freedom.

“I love that every time I sit down to play, I’m
making something; making a story, making a charac¬
ter, or just making a new memory.”

“We do have some great memories.”

“I like that as a DM I can create my own adven¬
tures, my own monsters, my own magic items, or my
own world. I love the sense of ownership that D&D
gives you over the game.”

Rodney’s friends love D&D too and that’s
important.

“You’re not kidding. It’s very hard to compete with hos-
tdefriends.”

“Twice a week, I sit down with five to eight friends
and play a game that is different every week,” he said.
“I also love the social aspect of the game.”

“I like your friends too.”

Rodney is running and playing more D&D than
ever before and couldn’t be happier. He says he and
D&D are in a great place right now.

“Sure, there are always rough patches,” he stated.
“But I recently got to work on the upcoming D&D
Essentials books as a designer, and I’m proud to be
helping shape the future of the game.”

“I feel safe with Rodney.”

Great place or not, most relationships that have
spanned over a decade have had to experience their
share of growing pains.

“Who hasn’t had a campaign fall apart in the
past?” Rodney lamented. “Sometimes you just need to
play something else to clear your head.”

“I never needed time to ‘clear my head,’ but that’s just
me I guess.”

No question Rodney is clear headed when talking
about his future with D&D.

I’ll certainly never stop playing D&D, barring a
major catastrophe, and I’d like to keep doing what I
do for a living for a long time to come. But I have to
admit, Gamma World has been making eyes at me.”

“I hope you don’t thinkyou’re special! Gamma World
has been making eyes at everyone!”

Bart Carroll, Editor-in-Chief, Dungeonsand-
Dragons.com. With Dungeons & Dragons 27
Years

How do you keep things fresh after nearly three
decades? It’s easy, according to Bart.

“Dungeons & Dragons and I are very healthy,”
Bart answers without hesitation in regards to the cur¬
rent state of their relationship. “I play weekly at work,
outside of work, and recently started an additional
game on odd-weekends, as a means to reconnect with
some friends, draw others in, and have one-off ses¬
sions that allow a fair degree of experimentation ...”

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD

“Whoa! Don’t give them the wrong idea! You mean
it’s a chance for others to try out characters they normally
wouldn’t play and give new DMs some practice. Overall, it’s
a chance for us to just kick back and see where life takes us.”

“Right. That’s what I said.”

“Whatever.”

Being an “army brat,” Bart spent much of his
childhood trying to fit into one group or another.
With every new city came a new group of friends and
exposure to new hobbies. This is probably the catalyst
for Bart’s love of discovering new games, whether at a
hobby store or from a friend’s bookshelf. But there is
something about Dungeons & Dragons that stands
the test of time.

“We have to work at it, you know. But it’s worth it.”

“Dungeons & Dragons encapsulates all those
things I loved as a kid and lets me experience them
every time I play.”

“You’re so sentimental. It’s cute.”

After hearing the older kids describe Dungeons &
Dragons, Bart went on his first adventure to find out
more about this elusive, mysterious game that com¬
bined several of his passions-knights, monsters, and
mythology.

“They had me at dinosaurs.”

“Sure, I gave you dinosaurs. Relationships are all about
making concessions.”

“I remember spending my allowance on books and
adventures at Toys R Us,” Bart recounts. “And Christ¬
mas of 1983 I saw a red boxed set under my tree.
With dice! I could not have been happier.”

The happiness continued through several years
and almost as many characters.

“I tend to gravitate toward characters that aren’t
afraid to take silly risks for the sake of making some¬
thing happen,” Bart explains.

“I might be inclined to say it’s less ‘risky’ and more
‘careless.’”

“Maybe. One character came this close to laying
his hands on the hand of Eye of Vecna before his own
party knocked him unconscious and foolishly had the
useful item destroyed.”

“It’s times like that I wonder if you’re really committed
you know ? Like are you living for the moment with me or
wondering what the next great adventurer you’ll roll up will
belike.”

“When we re together, I only have eyes for you.”

“That’s sweet.”

Bart gets a little starry eyed when reminiscing
about one of those careless, slapdash, risk-taking
characters.

“I teleported inside a force field and found a
chain golem that 1 tried to commandeer. That didn’t
work—the golem activated and tried to kill me—but 1
escaped and managed to teleport an enemy inside the
same force field ... where the golem then smashed
him to pieces!”

‘And there was that whole ‘I’m a cleric! Nope! I lied! I’m
an assassin!’fiasco.”

“We’re still talking about that?”

“I’m sorry but when three out of four party members are
knocked prone and your assassin is scampering down the
hallway looking for a mute old man with a bevy of canar¬
ies, it’s hard to not think about it.”

“They were fine! Marty made his death save and
managed to throw a healing word on Kierin.

“For the record, I did not agree with that decision. Your
fellow party-members were right to be upset.”

“Party member,” Bart corrects. “I believe there was
just one who got severely bent out of shape.”

“I think she was right. But whatever. Let’s move on.”

“Fine.”

A lover of all things geek and a wide -array of
games (Munchkin, Battlestar Galactica, and Magic:

The Gathering to name a few), Bart is a giant flirt
when it comes to other pastimes, but none have given
him butterflies like Dungeons & Dragons does.

“Still, they try.”

“I dallied with Palladium’s Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles RPG for a while,” Bart recalls. “I introduced
some kids at school to it who had played Dungeons
& Dragons when younger. But when they sat around
the table, they really just wanted to play Dungeons &
Dragons again, not something Dungeons & Drag-
ONS-like. So we switched systems, and started playing
regularly again.”

“If I were one to say, ‘I told you so’I’d say, ‘I told you so.”'

Part of the strength of their relationship can be
credited to Dungeons & Dragons’ confidence.

“That’s because Bart is very generous with the compli¬
ments. Not a day goes by that he doesn’t remind me of how
appreciated I am.”

“You’re appreciated! Not sure if I said it yet today.”

With Dungeons & Dragons, “Every time is a good
time. Maybe because the game still reminds me of
how much fun I had playing with different groups at
different times in my life,” Bart says.

“Now I’m blushing.”

As for their future? Bart and D&D don’t show any
signs of slowing down. In fact, quite the contrary.

Bart believes in a sort of paying it forward—at least in
terms of sharing his love of D&D with generations to

“I see ... my currently fictitious kids sitting
around the table being prodded, tricked, or otherwise
coerced into playing with dad, who’s keen to teach

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

1%)

CONFESSIONS OF A FULL-TIME WIZARD

them math, vocabulary, and cooperative lessons in
the disguise of a gloriously geeky game.”

“I love kids. Bring it on!”

Chris Youngs, Editor-in-Chief, D&D Insider.
With Dungeons & Dragons 13 Years (on and

off).

Ah, young love. So full of promise. Budding with
excitement. Nothing but hope for the future. Until
your mother makes you stop seeing each other. That’s
what happened shortly after five-year old Chris first
met Dungeons & Dragons. Yes, five. He was intro¬
duced by his older brother who, upon learning the
game wasn’t a solo experience, was forced to recruit
his “malleable little brother.”

“That’s how I meet a lot of little brothers.”

But their love was left unfulfilled as mom fell
victim to the hype surrounding Dungeons & Drag¬
ons’ alleged bad reputation.

“She was told the game had real spells in it,” Chris
said.

“It’s hard to reason with overprotective moms of the
80s.”

“And demon summoning information.”

“Umm ...no. Not my cup of mead.”

Although Chris’s relationship with D&D was
called to a halt early on, Chris’s penchant for gaming
wasn’t. During their forced separation, he spent time
with mom-approved games such as Monopoly, Sorry,
and Mille Bornes before entering what he affection¬
ately refers to as his FASA period.

“I dallied with Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Battle
Tech,” he recounted. “I probably designed more Battle
Mechs than I ever have Dungeons & Dragons char¬
acters. And that’s saying something”

“That’s because you were in junior high when time was
an endless commodity. Try to do that now. ”

But everyone knows destiny wins in the end. It was
1998 when Chris and Dungeons & Dragons crossed
paths again. Perhaps they were jaded from their false
start several years before, but Chris admits the sparks
didn’t fly immediately.

“I was weary. Once bitten, twice shy.”

“It took a couple of years to get back into the
groove, but then 3rd Edition came along, and it was
just like old times.”

“Old times? He was five! But yes, we moved very
quickly.”

Since then the good times have kept on rolling.
Even his mom has come to terms with Chris’s rela¬
tionship with Dungeons & Dragons.

“She just wants me to be happy,” he said. “And she
doesn’t think the game is evil anymore. That was, um,
an important step.”

“I had to work at that one. To know me is to love me.”

“Love might be too strong a word.”

“There’s still time.”

So what’s the attraction? Part of it is what many
find attractive about a game like Dungeons & Drag-
ONS-the only boundaries are your imagination. “If
you can think it, you can make it part of the game,”
Chris says.

“I’m not a pushover or anything. I just want people to
havefun.”

Dungeons & Dragons has introduced Chris to
some of the most beloved characters in his life.

“My favorite is always whichever character I’m
playing at the moment, even if it’s a one-off.”

“You throw you whole heart into every character you roll
up. It’s very refreshing.”

“Thank you.”

Currently Chris plays an egotistic sorcerer with a
penchant for wild parties and wilder magic.

“It’s a blast,” he admits.

“No pun intended?”

Make no mistake, Chris is definitely a player, and
while he insists you can’t help but at least notice an
interesting product shot or be intrigued by a glowing
review of a new game, he spends the majority of his
free time with Dungeons & Dragons.

“There’s not a single game I currently play as much
as Dungeons & Dragons,” Chris proclaimed.

“Ohyeah? What about Rock Band?”

“Except maybe Rock Band.”

“That’s okay. It just makes the time we do spend
together all the more special.”

The future looks bright for these two with Chris’s
only complaint being he wishes he had more time for
Dungeons & Dragons.

“I see many more adventures. Many more mon¬
sters. Many more dungeons. And loads of phat lewtz!”

So there you have it. It’s a good thing I’m not the
jealous type because that’s a lot of love.

Unlike other relationships, hearing people profess
their devotion for your beloved only serves to ignite
the flames.

But I hope you weren’t looking for a monogamous
relationship with Dungeons & Dragons.

“No one loves a player as much as I do.”

About the Author

Although her mother warned her about games like this,
Shelly Mazzanoble and Dungeons & Dragons have been
blissfully enjoying each other’s company for six years.

■y 2010 ] DRAGON 384

D&D PLAY REPORT

D&D Experience and
a New Play Experience

BY CHRIS TULACH D&D PLAY SPOTLIGHT

At our feature convention D&D Experience, we
announced a new in-store weekly D&D play experi¬
ence called D&D Encounters, which begins its first
season by exploring the iconic dungeon of Under¬
mountain on March 17. I’ll give you the complete
details below, but first, I want to give a little wrap-up
of D&D Experience.

Serious Fun in Fort Wayne!

D&D Experience was a blast this year. Hundreds
and hundreds of D&D gamers from around the US,
Canada, and Europe braved the cold and headed to
Fort Wayne, Indiana for a four-day celebration of all
things D&D. In a big ballroom in the Grand Wayne

The hall swells with tables of dedicated D&D gamers.

Convention Center, players got their fill of Living
Forgotten Realms, an awesome Dark Sun preview
adventure, and bashed monsters in a new version of
the Convention Delve.

What really brought the players out in force were
the two special gaming events at the show—the Dark
Sun preview adventure and the Living Forgotten
Realms battle interactive. At the Dark Sun preview
called “Death in the Arena,” players got their first
look at the 4th Edition world of Athas, playing a
variety of diverse characters such as a mul barbarian
gladiator and a thri-kreen shaman elemental priest.

I won’t spoil the adventure details for you, because
we’ll be running it again at PAX East and other local
shows in the future!

The Living Forgotten Realms battle interactive
was the first of its kind for LFR, and it was a rousing
success! Dozens of tables participated in two days’
worth of missions as they attempted to save Elturel
from the horrors of the nearby plaguelands. As the
spellplague spread to the city, the characters rallied
to its defense and only narrowly managed to avoid
complete catastrophe! For more information on the
battle interactive and to hear players’ stories, head
to the Living Forgotten Realms Community Page .

My table gets ready to take on the savage land of Athas!

Who knows, a convention near you might be run¬
ning it soon!

We also had other special events, including a pair
of book signings. The signing with Rich Baker on
Saturday had an additional surprise—free copies of
Rich’s not-yet-released Avenger, the third and final
book in the Blades of the Moonsea trilogy! Suffice to
say, he had quite a line of fans.

We also had lots of sneak peeks at the show, giving
out first looks at the D&D Essentials line, a deep dive
into the design of the updated Dark Sun setting, and
lots of information on our upcoming board games

Febri

lry 2010 ] DRAGON 384

D&D PLAY REPORT

Rich Baker gives away his signature and his new book,
Avenger.

and the new Gamma World game. Some lucky folks
even got to playtest Gamma World with Rich Baker!

All in all, we had a great show—attendance was
way up, and all sorts of little secrets were dropped on
players throughout the weekend. If you didn’t make

Mike Mearls presents the 2010 D&D lineup at the product
preview seminar.

it to the show this year, make sure you make plans to
attend next year. In the meantime, you can listen to |
Ipodcasts of many of the seminars) right now!

D&D Encounters.-
Undermountain
Starts March 171

We launch the first-ever weekly Wednesday D&D
play experience in just a few short weeks. I’d like to
take some space here in the column to tell you more
about the program so you can get organized now and
be ready to participate on March 17!

Weekly in-store D&D play on Wednesdays.
D&D Encounters runs each week in your local
Wizards Play Network store. This is the first D&D
program that Wizards has designed specifically for
weekly play. Because it’s on Wednesday nights, it
stays away from busy weekends and coincides nicely
with comic book day.

An ongoing mini-campaign. D&D Encounters
is set up with an ongoing narrative element, played
as a mini-campaign lasting a few months. Each mini¬
campaign is also known as a season of play. After one
season finishes, the next one begins the very next
week, without interruption. The season is divided into
three chapters; each chapter is composed of a few ses¬
sions of play.

One encounter per week. Fitting D&D Encoun¬
ters into a busy schedule is made much easier with
its one-encounter-per-week sessions. You can get the
encounter done within 1-2 hours, making it easy to
finish at a reasonable hour and keeping the DM’s
prep time to a minimum each week.

Earn Renown Points for accomplishments.

At the conclusion of each session, you earn Renown
Points for different types of in-game accomplish-
ments-defeating encounters, hitting milestones, doing
something spectacular during a game session, etc. As
you accumulate those points, you earn rewards cards
that can be used in-game for your current and future
D&D Encounters characters. Some rewards are easy
to get and can be obtained after only a few sessions
of play; others might take a while to qualify for. The
first is the Delver reward, and it’s given to you on
the session you’ve earned it. The other two rewards
(Explorer and Adventurer) are awarded at the end
of the season based on those that qualify for them by
earning a certain higher total of points.

DMs get rewards too! In addition to the player
rewards in the D&D Encounters kit, there are also
special rewards for the DMs, consisting of valuable
game aids and other cool specially-made, not-avail-
able-for-sale items. Each new season will bring a
different DM reward in the kit.

Each season takes you to new D&D worlds.
Every D&D Encounters season is a self-contained
mini-campaign, giving you an ongoing story in a dif¬
ferent D&D setting each time. Each season will last
three to four months-short enough that you don’t
need to make a long-term campaign commitment but
long enough to give you a sense of growth and accom¬
plishment. The seasonal nature of D&D Encounters
also means you’ll be able to sample new game content
and different worlds a few times every year. The first
season of D&D Encounters is set in the Forgotten
Realms, where you’ll be uncovering the secrets of
Halaster’s Lost Apprentice in one of the most infamous
dungeons of all, Under mountain! In season two,

Febri

lry 2010 ] DRAGON 384

D&D PLAY REPORT

journey to the blasted lands of Athas as you play in a
mini-campaign preview of the Dark Sun campaign
setting!

Get social by following us and sharing. The

D&D Encounters play experience goes beyond the
store as Wizards uses social networking tools like
[fwitter| and |Facebook| to communicate messages each
week, sometimes offering special in-game benefits or
events that affect your current play session. In addi¬
tion, you can share your stories, post photos, and join
the discussion right here at the |D&D Community |
iGroupj

D&D Encounters.-
Undermountain

Halaster’s Lost Apprentice: A lost passageway on the
upper level of the most infamous dungeon in Faerun
has recently been uncovered. When a patron hires a
band of adventurers to brave the dangers of Under¬
mountain, a search is on to uncover secrets of an
apprentice of the dungeon’s lost creator-Halaster.
Bring a lst-level character or use a pre-generated
character. Characters this season can be exported to
the Living Forgotten Realms campaign at the conclu¬
sion of the mini-campaign!

Season Length: 12 sessions (3 chapters of 4 ses¬
sions each)

Season Dates: March 17 - June 2 (Wednesdays)

Make sure your local store signs up for D&D
Encounters through the Wizards Play Network.
Signups begin on February 8th. They’ll want to
sign up early, because kit quantities are limited!

That’s all this month on the D&D Play Spotlight.
Join me again next month as we talk about PAX East
and share more information on D&D Encounters and
Player’s Handbook 3 Game Day!

About the Author

Originally thought to have heen raised from a humhle
Midwestern family, Chris Tulach actually fell to Earth in a
meteorite-shaped capsule flung from a planet far outside our
galaxy. While under the yellow rays of Sol, Chris’s nerdity
far surpasses that of any normal human. Using this precious
gift only for good, he has become the D&D Organized Play
Content Developer, responsible for the development and
deployment of Dungeons & Dragons organized play pro¬
grams. He is also the co-author ofE2 Kingdom of the Ghouls.

Febri

lry 2010 ] DRAGON 384

AMPERSAND

Coming This Fall

Hot on the heels of some amazing announcements
we made at Dungeons & Dragons Experience, I want to
give all of the Insiders the complete scoop on a bunch of
new products that we’re really excited about. First, let me
give you a tour of our new Dungeons & Dragons Essentials
line of products. Then I want to show off our new take
on Gamma World and address questions you may have
about our new line of board games. Let’s get to it!

Dungeons & Dragons
Essentials

While the current format of the Dungeons & Dragons
Roleplaying Game is great for those of us who have been
playing the game for years (or even decades!), we knew
that we needed to take a shot at making the products
more accessible to the next generation of gamers. For this
reason, we’re introducing the Essentials line of products
later this year.

The Essentials line consists of 10 key products that
will always be in stock and will form the core of the
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game experience
moving forward. Each product is designed to provide
a more streamlined, more directed, and less expensive
experience for the user. These products don’t replace
the existing Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, or
Monster Manual. They represent a separate pathway into
the game.

It all starts with the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy
Roleplaying Game, a new version of the original “Red Box”

starter game. This is the Essential starting point for new
players coming to the brand. It features a player’s book
that uses a solitaire pick-a-path process to create a charac¬
ter, a Dungeon Master’s book with basic 4th Edition game
rules and a group adventure, a set of dice, a poster map,
cardstock tokens for characters and monsters, and power
cards. The box takes players from 1st level through 2nd
level with a limited selection of options and choices.

From there, the Dungeons & Dragons Rules
Compendium puts all the core rules of the game into a
single volume for the first time. The rules are presented
in a logical order, organized for easy access during a game
session. The 6” x 9” trade paperback is full color and costs
$19.95, making it a must-have for players and Dungeon
Masters who want to go beyond the basic rules presented
in the “Red Box.” Its size helps with portability, and it
takes up less room on your game table.

Next, the line divides the rest of the products based
on the role you’ve taken in the game—player or Dungeon
Master.

For players, two 6” x 9” $19.95 trade paperbacks pres¬
ent the essential classes and races, covering all tiers of
play, from heroic through epic. Each one includes a selec¬
tion of classes and races that can immediately fill out
an adventuring party, as well as character creation and
advancement rules, skills, feats, equipment, and the rules
of the game as they pertain to players.

Heroes of the Fallen Lands covers the classes and races
associated most closely with the traditional Dungeons

February 2010 | DRAGON 384

\(as)

& Dragons game. It features two new fighter builds,
a new rogue build, a new cleric build, a new wizard
build, and a new ranger build. The races in this one
include humans, dwarves, eladrin, elves, and half-
bngs. Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms features more
options, including a new cleric build, a new rogue
build, a new paladin build, a new ranger build, a new
druid build, and a new warlock build. The races in
this one include dragonborn, drow, half-elves, and
tieflings.

For Dungeon Masters, the boxed Dungeon Master’s
Kit expands the DMing material presented in the
“Red Box,” as well as two adventures, two poster
maps, a DM’s screen, and monster tokens to help a
DM take a campaign from 1st to 30th level.

The Monster Vault boxed set includes a book of
essential Dungeons & Dragons monsters, tokens
for every monster in the box, an adventure, and a
poster map. The adventures that appear in the “Red
Box,” the Dungeon Master’s Kit, and the Monster Vault
can be run sequentially to create the beginnings of a
campaign.

Three sets of Dungeon Tiles Master Sets round out
the essential offerings for the DM. These include The
Dungeon, The City, and The Wilderness. Each set comes
in a box and contains 10 sheets of dungeon tiles-and
the box itself features a grid, allowing it to be used
as an elevated play surface. Some of the tiles in these
sets are pulled from older, out-of-print Dungeon Tiles
sets, but each box contains a number of new tiles
as well. These Master Sets are intended to provide
Dungeon Masters with a basic set of tiles for building
dungeon, city, and wilderness encounters—and boxes
in which to store them! Future sets of Dungeon Tiles

AMPERSAND

will expand these Master Sets by providing tiles that
are more specific and strongly themed.

What’s the tenth Essentials product? A set of
Dungeons & Dragons dice for anyone who needs
an extra set completes the Essentials offerings. These
10 products won’t be added to or taken away from.
They’re designed to be the starting point and baseline
for all Dungeons & Dragons games moving forward.

Here’s a simple list of how these products fit
together.

For Everyone

Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game
Starter Set (Red Box)-September 2010
Dungeons & Dragons Rules Compendium-
September 2010

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Dice Set-
August 2010
For Players

Heroes of the Fallen Lands— September 2010
Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms— November 2010
For Dungeon Masters
Dungeon Master’s Kit-October 2010
Monster Vault-November 2010
Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Dungeon- July 2010
Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The City-October 2010
Dungeon Tiles Master Set: The Wilderness-December
2010

Yes, our focus for the end of 2010 is on setting up the
Essentials line. But right after that, our new frontlist
plan begins to roll out, providing expanded game
options and materials for all players. I’ll talk a bit
more about how that’s going to work next month.

Dungeon Master to the
Stars

I hinted recently that Chris Perkins, the Creative
Manager for Dungeons & Dragons and our increas¬
ingly popular Dungeon Master to the stars, had gone
on a secret mission to run a game for some VFPs
(Very Funny People). Now I can reveal that he ran
an incredible game of Dungeons & Dragons for the
folks at Robot Chicken. Check out this link to see
their excursion into Undermountain.

Dungeons & Dragons
Encounters

We also debuted our new weekly adventure series
for play in Wizards Play Network retail locations
at Dungeons & Dragons Experience last week.
Starting now, you can visit your local game store
every Wednesday to play an exciting new adventure.
The first mini-campaign takes place in the Forgotten
Realms, specifically in the depths of Undermountain.
You’ll find additional information here.

D&D Gamma World

We unveiled the new D&D Gamma World prod¬
ucts last week as well. Coming in October, the D&D
Gamma World Roleplaying Game provides a com¬
plete experience in a box. Using the Dungeons &
Dragons rules as the basis, the game is designed
to be most people’s second game, the game they go
to when they want to break out of the usual fantasy
mold. That said, it’s also designed to appeal to players
who enjoy science fiction with a bit of a wacky ele¬
ment. And I do mean wacky! Thanks to streamlined

uary 2010 | DRAGON 384

Febri

AMPERSAND

and random
character gen¬
eration and a
set of Alpha
Mutations and
Omega Tech
cards, the
game plays
fast and loose,
with plenty
of oppor¬
tunities for surprises,
excitement, and humor as your mutant rat swarm
discovers an ancient artifact known as a Teddy Bear
or your insectoid bear mutant tries to figure out how
to use a deadly toast-r-oven against the approaching
killer robot horde. The boxed set comes with plenty
of cards, but for players and Gamemasters who want
to expand their options and add to the wackiness,
a random booster set will be available for just that
purpose.

To dispel some of the rumors that followed the
announcement at Dungeons & Dragons Experience,
let me state this clearly: D&D Gamma World is a
roleplaying game. The cards add a random element
that is built into the game play, but it is in no way a
collectible trading card game. It uses dice and all of
the basic Dungeons & Dragons RPG rules, with the
added element of random cards to reflect the random
mutations and technological discoveries that have
always been a part of the Gamma World mythol¬
ogy. We re having a blast in our playtests, and I think
you’ll enjoy it as well when it debuts in October.

The first expansion product, Famine at Far-Go,
comes out in December. It includes more mutants

and more adventure for those who didn’t get enough
of the mutants and madness in the core set. We’ll talk
more about D&D Gamma World and other possible
genre products in the months ahead. Maybe we’ll
even run a poll as to what kinds of genres you’d like
us to focus on in the future.

Dungeons & Dragons
Board Games

Finally, a few words about our upcoming line of board
games. Our board games are not replacements for our
miniatures line. We have a nice slate of miniatures
products coming out this year, including the Lords
of Madness Huge Set and the Limited Edition Orcus
Gargantuan figure. Our board games are just that:
board games! A different play experience using spe¬
cific elements of the Dungeons & Dragons brand.

We kicked this off with the release of D&D Heroscape,
and were following it up with Castle Ravenloft and
Dragonfire Mountain. The latter two board games
use our new Adventure System Cooperative Play
mechanics, which means that the components in the
two boxes can be used together to

create completely new experiences.

Anyway, they’re board games, not
roleplaying games or RPG acces¬
sories. They’re meant to stand on
their own and provide a lighter,
faster experience for when you
don’t want to play a full-on
RPG session or for Dungeons
& Dragons fans who enjoy a
more structured experience.

And they’re fun!

Well, that’s it for this month. Until next time,

Keep Playing!

In Case You Don’t Know Him

Bill Slavicsek’s gaming life was forever changed when he
discovered Dungeons & Dragons in 1976. He became a
gaming professional in 1986 when he was hired by West End
Games as an editor. He quickly added developer, designer,
and creative manager to his resume, and his work helped
shape the Paranoia, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, and Torg roleplay¬
ing games. He even found some time during that period to
do freelance work for Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition. In
1993, Bill joined the staff of TSR, Inc. as a designer/editor.

He worked on a bunch of 2nd Edition material, including
products for Core Dungeons & Dragons, Dark Sun, Ravenloft,
and Planescape. In 1997, he was part of the TSR crowd that
moved to Seattle to join Wizards of the Coast, and in that
year he was promoted to R&D Director for Dungeons &
Dragons. In that position, Bill oversaw the creation of both
the 3rd Edition and 4th Edition of the Dungeons & Dragons
Roleplaying Game. He was one of the driving forces behind
the Dungeons & Dragons Insider project, and he contin¬
ues to oversee and lead the creative strategy and effort for
Dungeons & Dragons.

Bill’s enormous list of credits
includes Alternity, d20 Modern,
d20 Star Wars, Pokemonjr., Eberron
Campaign Setting, the Dungeons &
Dragons For Dummies books, and his
monthly Ampersand (&) column for
Dragon magazine.

■y 2010 ] DRAGON 384

\(st)

Febn

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Dragon Magazine"

See other formats